On Eating Out

Eating out can be a dieting/healthy-eating nightmare. But it doesn't have to be.

When I was actively trying to lose weight, I pretty much stopped eating out in restaurants altogether; the stress and anxiety of finding something diet-friendly, figuring out correct portion sizes, and knowing my weight might bump up regardless from the extra sodium just wasn't worth it to me at the time. This, however, could not last forever, unless I wanted to have no social life.

Once I hit the "maintenance" phase of my journey (no longer dieting, just trying to maintain), I started experimenting with eating out here and there. I still don't make a habit of it, but it's nice to know, for instance, that I can swing into Subway and grab a salad if I'm busy or traveling, stop by Greek Islands on the way home to pick up dinner if I just don't feel like cooking, or meet a friend at Outback or Cantina Laredo to catch up over dinner. But the key to eating out, I have discovered, is planning ahead!

Usually, we're already hungry by the time we arrive at a restaurant. Everything looks delicious on the menu, and it's easy to convince yourself that you'll "just have a bite" of an appetizer, or you'll fill up on the starter salad and won't eat the entire entree, so it's okay to order what sounds really cheesy/carby/filling/amazing. In my case, all reason seems to disappear when I'm really hungry. Not to mention, if I'm eating out with friends or family, someone is bound to order appetizers to pass around. Basically, before heading to a restaurant, I always try to plan ahead on three counts:
           1)Drinks/appetizers. Am I willing to splurge on those (I usually don't)? Should I plan to eat a lighter entree to offset that splurge?
           2)Menu. I generally try to look up the menu online ahead of time to find one or two dinner options that I think will work for me. This way, I'm not poring over the menu when I'm hungry or distracted, and I'm more likely to make a better choice/plan for special requests.
           3)WATER! I drink plenty of water before we eat out, while I'm at the restaurant, and extra water for about a day afterwards, all to counteract the extra sodium found in restaurant food (also, if I'm well-hydrated before eating out, I'm less likely to overeat).

So, what do I actually eat? Here are some of my "go-to" meals at a few of the restaurants I frequent in Omaha:

My Subway salad.

Subway:
           Roasted chicken salad-- with spinach, lettuce, shredded cheddar, cucumber, tomato, banana peppers, and fat-free sweet onion sauce on top. I will eat this with 2 packages of saltines, or with a slice of Sara Lee Delightful bread if I'm at home. Note: I do NOT get the "chopped salad" that they just started selling; it's overpriced, and they way they "chop" it mostly just mushes and mangles the salad. I will, however, ask them to cut my cucumbers/tomatoes in half before they put them on my salad, just to make it easier to eat.

Outback: 
           Fire-Grilled Mahi, light style, no rice. This means that I don't get it with the "hearts of gold" artichokes and sauce on top, and my veggies are steamed without butter. I will usually have a piece (or two!) of the bread they serve at the table (with a little butter) while I wait for my meal.
          Grilled Salmon, light style. This comes with a side of steamed veggies, too. Again, I'll usually have a piece of the bread they serve at the table.

Greek Islands:
          Tilapia Dinner. I get the dinner salad with the dressing on the side to dip my salad bites into. I do not eat the bread that they serve while waiting (or if I do, I skip the rice with the meal). I will eat the broiled tilapia, which comes with steamed broccoli and rice--though I'll only eat about 1/2 cup of the rice.
          Chicken Santorini. This is a feta and spinach stuffed chicken breast. Again, avoid the bread, eat 1/2-3/4 of the chicken, approx 1/2 cup of the rice, and the steamed broccoli it comes with. Salad with dressing on the side.

Cantina Laredo:
           Chicken Tampico. I *try* to avoid the chips/salsa they bring when you sit down, but the salsas are soooo good here. So instead, I usually just avoid the Spanish rice served with my chicken. :)  I get the creamy poblano sauce served on the side (I usually don't use it at all, but it's nice to have in case I want to try it), and ask for no monterey cheese on my chicken (it's a pretty large chicken serving, I don't need the extra protein of the cheese). It comes with sauteed bell peppers/mushrooms on the chicken, but I also usually ask for a side salad with dressing on the side.

McFoster's Natural Kind Cafe:
           You would think an organic/vegan cafe would be easy, but organic/vegan food usually has a lot of hidden fat and carbs. I usually get the grilled/broiled salmon. It comes with sauteed or roasted veggies and some bread/toast. If I'm especially hungry, I'll add a side salad with dijon vinaigrette on the side.

In addition to having menus online (even locally-owned places have started putting their menus online), most of the chain restaurants (Outback, etc.) will often have nutritional information posted online. It's always a good idea to check that out, too-- sometimes what they mark as "healthy" or "lite" on their menu is not always as healthy or light as you think, as the sodium will often be much higher. Applebee's, for example, had a Weight-Watcher's-friendly chicken dinner that I ordered once; when I looked at the nutrition information online later, I discovered that the entree had over 1,200 mg of sodium (1,500mg is the recommended daily intake for sodium)! Not only that, but--to be honest--the meal was so salty-tasting to me that it was nearly inedible (keep in mind that I eat low-sodium and am now pretty sensitive to the taste of salt...but still!).

Roasted Balsamic Vegetables

Part of the reason I haven't posted much lately is that I haven't had a lot of new recipes I've been trying, mostly because I enjoy cycling through a lot of what I've already posted (I'm also a creature of habit and tend to get into a rut). When I don't have much time to prepare dinner (which is most nights), I usually just steam up some veggies in my Pampered Chef microwave steamer. Easy and fast, even if it is boring.

However, I ran across this idea for balsamic roasted vegetables at Emily Bites and, given my recent falling in love with roasted cauliflower, decided to give it a try this last fall. This quickly became one of my regular rotations for vegetables throughout the fall/winter, and was what I brought to holiday family gatherings when I was asked to prepare some kind of veggie dish.

As Emily Bites points out, roasting vegetables brings out their flavors and, with some veggies, can carmelize them and intensify their sweetness. The balsamic vinegar and salt adds a nice contrast to these flavors. And, they look beautiful, too!

I did make a few changes from her recipe--I used baby carrots (easier and less chopping!) as well as white or sweet yellow onion (I don't like red onion). You could also toss in cherry tomatoes, slices of bell peppers, chopped turnips, or halved baby potatoes, I suppose (the potatoes would definitely add carbs, though).

Roasted Balsamic Vegetables (from Emily Bites)

Ingredients:
4 oz raw broccoli florets (from about 1 small head)
7 oz raw cauliflower florets (half of one large head)
8 oz raw yellow Summer squash, chopped (about 1 small-medium squash)
8 oz raw zucchini, chopped (about 1 small-medium zucchini)
Baby carrots, I used about 1-2 handfuls.
5.5 oz raw white or sweet yellow onion, chopped large (about half a large onion)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T Balsamic vinegar
Kosher or Sea Salt, to taste

1.    Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly mist a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. (I like to line my baking sheet with aluminum foil first--easy clean up!)
2.    In a large bowl, combine all the vegetables and mix them together. Drizzle the olive oil and vinegar over the vegetables and sprinkle on your desired amount of salt. Toss to coat. Pour vegetables onto the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until caramelized.

Photo from http://www.emilybites.com/2012/11/balsamic-roasted-vegetables.html

Snow day . . . and stuff

So, as usual, getting back into the school year has consumed my life. One of my non-teacher friends even joked to me a couple months ago that she has so many teacher friends that her social life goes dormant once the school year starts.

Anyway, I've been a busy girl. I started a staff yoga program at my high school as part of our wellness program--so I was teaching yoga twice a week to teachers and staff. I've also continued teaching yoga twice a week to Bellevue Public School bus drivers as part of their wellness program. Add to that my own yoga practice, running (still doing that!), work, family, and trying to eat healthfully, and it's been pretty crazy around here.

Mamie loves snow days with me!

We did get a snow day today, though, so I thought I'd use this gift of time to write up a few blog posts. :)

First, a few more updates!

As I mentioned, I've been teaching a lot of yoga to adults. However, I've really been wanting to start a student yoga program. Through Donorschoose.org, I was able to get almost 20 yoga mats donated to my school. I'm planning on having our first informational meeting sometime in the next week or so, and then start teaching yoga after school to students once a week! I'm pretty excited about this--yoga has so many benefits, and I wish I'd had this opportunity when I was younger.

Ugly Sweater Run, with my friends Julie & Marie

On the running side--I had been running about 3 times a week since school started, but had to take a few weeks off in November. I still came back strong in time for the Ugly Sweater 5K Run in December, though. It was really cold that morning--but even more exciting/holiday-like when it started snowing toward the end of the run. :) And it only got better when we went out for a huge brunch afterwards and went home to enjoy hot showers and a food coma.

It was actually hard to find an ugly Christmas sweater for the run, since everyone in Omaha was also looking. Luckily, I found a co-worker who loaned me this atrocious Snoopy sweater--which was huge, but allowed for me to wear more layers under it. I also had just bought the cold-weather compression leggings that I'm wearing in the picture, so I could run outside more comfortably throughout the winter. They work great--I've even been running on 15 and 18 degree days. As my sister put it: "Wow, you've become one of THOSE people." I guess I have... and it's hard for me to believe, trust me.

RunnerID bracelet

Since I've been running outside so much, though, I also bought some new bling: a RunnerID bracelet. It's a rubbery bracelet with a metal plate with my name, year of birth, and emergency contacts. Don't get me wrong--I run pretty safely. I am always alert and looking around me, I don't always run on the same days/times, I switch up my route regularly, and I try to stay on a sidewalk/trail whenever there is one. But still...accidents can happen, and I wanted to make sure I'm as safe as can be.

And so, I'm off to finish shoveling the driveway and try to make it to a 12:30pm yoga class; then it's to the grocery store, and home to deep clean (I was sick last weekend, so nothing got done), write a few more posts, and get ready for tomorrow!

Look for some more posts in the next week or so-- roasted balsamic vegetables, mock spaghetti and meat sauce, and eating out are just a few things I plan to post about in the near future. :)

Stay warm today!

Chickpea and Roasted Pepper Soup

This weekend was both exhausting yet relaxing.

On Saturday--after my regular class of teaching yoga to BPS bus drivers--I ran what was supposed to be a "Friends and Family 5K Fun Run" at Offutt Air Force Base. About 35 minutes into the race, I noticed that I was nowhere near the end of the course, yet I should have been just about done (I usually run them in about 35-36 minutes now). At 40 minutes in, I thought "This is NOT a 5K!" When I crossed the finish line at 45 minutes (after a giant hill at the end!), my friend, Julie, announced "Hey, guess what? They measured the course wrong, and it was more than 5K!" No kidding. We figured out that it was just over 4 miles that we ran that morning--about 6.5K. I was kind of mad about running that far without being forwarned, but rather proud that I did it! After a post-race massage (with Christine Thye at A Moment to Breathe--go get a massage from her!) and running errands that afternoon, though, I was thoroughly exhausted.

Today, though, was a wonderfully relaxing day. I ran a few errands in the morning, then went to visit my friend, Ferial. I made us a chickpea and roasted pepper soup for lunch, and then we enjoyed chai masala and a Bollywood movie for the rest of the afternoon. Ahhhhh... good food, good tea, and good company!

The soup I made was a recipe from Cat Cora that I had seen in my most recent Yoga Journal magazine: Chickpea and Roasted Pepper Soup. It turned out fantastic, though Ben wished it was a little more savory and a little less sweet (I thought it had just a hint of sweet from the onion and peppers, though, not overpowering).

Because the chickpeas would be considered my starch for lunch, I also brought some white wine and garlic turkey sausage/brats that I found at the meat counter at our local Baker's supermarket. Since I wasn't sure if the sausages would be any good, I cooked them separately in the oven and then sliced and added them to our individual bowls of soup at the end (I didn't want to end up with a big pot of sucky soup if the sausages were terrible). The sausage was good, though, so in the future I'll probably partially saute it, then slice it and add it to the soup to finish cooking. In the future, I might also consider using only 3 cans of chickpeas instead of 4, and possibly adding some other non-starchy vegetables, like zucchini, cauliflower, or something. The beauty of the chickpeas, though, is that they do contain some protein and are pretty high in fiber, so they're definitely worth having in the soup. :)

Chickpea and Roasted Pepper Soup (from Cat Cora)

Ingredients
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 medium onions, chopped (recipe calls for 2, but I reduced this slightly)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
4 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained (I used Bush's Best Reduced Sodium)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
8 cups vegetable broth (I used Kitchen Basics Unsalted)
2 Bay leaves
4 red bell peppers (recipe only calls for 2, I used more), roasted, peeled, & seeded
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
flat-leaf parsley for garnish (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over the medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the chickpeas and rosemary, mixing well. Add broth and bay leaves.

Purée the red peppers in a food processor or blender. Stir into the soup, cover, and simmer gently over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and season to taste the salt and pepper. Just before serving, garnish the soup with chopped fresh parsley, if you'd like.


I ate mine with a side of steamed broccoli, since this soup mostly contains starchy vegetables; in addition, as I mentioned, I sliced up some white wine and garlic turkey sausage and put it in my soup. You can choose to eat this soup plain, or add turkey meatballs, turkey sausage, or Aidell's chicken sauasage. 

Nutritional Information (Soup makes 8 servings, info for 1 serving)
Calories: 246
Fat: 6.5g     Sodium: 588mg     Carb: 41.1     Fiber: 9.2      Protein: 10.1     Sugars: 5.9

Curry Roasted Cauliflower & Sweet Peas

Have I mentioned how much I've grown to love cauliflower? I used to hate it. HATE it. I didn't like the taste, but especially didn't like the texture.

Turns out it just wasn't being cooked right for me!

I fell in love with my friend Ferial's roasted cauliflower with parmesan a while back, and have been looking for some other interesting ways to season roasted cauliflower. One of my favorite food blogs, Can You Stay For Dinner? (this blogger lost 130+ lbs and has kept it off for a few years!) had a good-looking curry roasted cauliflower and sweet pea recipe that I decided to try the other night. I like curry. I like roasted cauliflower. I like sweet peas. No surprise that this recipe was a winner, then.

Catch of the day: drum fish

But first, I have to brag a little about fish. Yes, fish. As in, the-fun-time-I've-had-catching-some-big-fish-and-eating-them-and-they-were-delicious.

Two plates for so much good food!

My in-laws have a cabin up north on the Missouri river, near the Ft. Randall dam; however, due to the epic flood last year, the cabin was unusable for over a year, until it could be cleaned, gutted, and basically rebuilt. We finally got to head up there toward the end of July, and the fishing has been amazing! We also discovered that in addition to bass, walleye, pike, and crappie, the drum fish are apparently abundant, fun to catch, and delicious to eat! The guys grilled up the whole catfish with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and I breaded and fried up the drum fillets. Add some roasted green beans, corn, and slices of bread and we had ourselves a pretty amazing feast!


And now, back to the cauliflower.

In addition to yummy cauliflower, my friend Ferial has also taught me a love of Indian spices. Ferial is Kenyan, and her family is of Indian descent, so she is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Asian and African cooking (or just cooking in general. Because she's pretty much a domestic goddess as far as I'm concerned). I didn't have a chance to find out how Ferial mixes her own curry powder (did you know curry isn't a single spice? Me either, until I met Ferial.) before making this, so I just used a store-bought curry mix from Spice Islands, which seemed to be fine.

A few notes about this recipe: it calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, but it ended up being a little too hot for me. As in my-mouth-and-lips-were-on-fire hot. Ben loved it and thought it was great, though. I think if this was served over rice, as the original blogger did, it would probably temper the heat a bit. But I'm going to reduce the cayenne a little the next time I make this. Also, I didn't drizzle it with olive oil, I used my Misto sprayer--which, while more effective at covering the cauliflower, made it impossible to measure the amount of oil I used. Hence, I don't think I used enough oil--the cauliflower came out of the oven with less of a spicy glaze (like in the original blogger's pictures) and more of a covered-in-spice-powder look/feel, which may also be why the cayenne seemed so strong. Finally, make sure you use a very large cauliflower head (or more than one), as I only had a small one, and it didn't produce enough cauliflower for a sufficient peas-to-cauliflower ratio. That was probably another reason why the cayenne was too strong for me. ;)

Curry Roasted Cauliflower and Sweet Peas (from Can You Stay For Dinner?)

Ingredients
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets (about 4-5 cups)
2 tablespoons canola or grapeseed oil
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups frozen sweet peas, thawed
Fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 450°. Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil in a large bowl. Add spices and toss again to coat each floret well.  Spread cauliflower onto a foil lined baking sheet.

Roast for 20 minutes, or until cauliflower is beginning to blacken and is easily pierced with a fork. Stir the thawed peas with the hot florets on the baking sheet, sprinkle with fresh cilantro, and serve.  Makes 4-5 servings.

I ate mine with steak and a slice of bread.

Nutritional Information (cauliflower/peas, 1 serving):
Calories: 130
Fat: 7.25    Carb: 15   Fiber: 5.5     Prot: 5

Grilled Blue Marlin with Apple Lime Vinaigrette

This is Part II of my delicious gourmet meal from the other night. :) I highly recommend eating this with the roasted vegetable & chickpea salad that I posted earlier. So. Delicious.

Before I jump into this recipe, though, let me just brag a little bit...

I stopped at my favorite consignment shop here in town last week, and happened upon a size 8/10 Armani suit. When I tried it on, I discovered that it fit almost perfectly (just need the pants hemmed)! The tag from the consignment shop had it priced at $200...and marked down to $90! Guess who is the proud new owner of a gorgeous Armani suit? This girl!! Even better--when I got home, I checked online to see how much women's Armani suits generally cost--and saw that they run about $1,200 to $3,000. And I got mine for $90!? It does make me wonder, though, who in Omaha would get rid of their timeless Armani suit??

And now, back to our regularly scheduled recipe for this post. ;)

I found this recipe in a local HyVee flyer that was advertising a sale on blue marlin, which I've never had before. I've decided that I really, really like it--it has a dense, meaty texture, and a light, not-very-fishy flavor. I have also read that this fish is very high protein but also very low in fat, which makes it an excellent lean protein source--and a nice change from all the chicken breasts and tilapia I've been eating! The vinaigrette is excellent, too, and I think it would also be good on chicken, pork, and/or tilapia. Possibly even in a quinoa salad.


Grilled Blue Marlin with Apple Lime Vinaigrette (from the July 2012 HyVee sale flyer)


Ingredients
4 pieces blue marlin fillets
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup apple juice
1 tsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar or 1/2 tbsp splenda (or 1/3 tbsp stevia--which is what I did)
1 large granny smith apple, peeled, cored, seeded and diced
2 tbsp bacon bits, finely chopped and divided in two

Preheat outside grill to medium-high heat. Let fish stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

In a blender or food processor, blend the apple, parsley, lime juice, apple juice, vinegar, 1 tbsp bacon bits, and sugar/sweetener. Slowly add olive oil and blend for 1 minute. Add remaining bacon bits and stir (not blend).

Lightly brush marlin filets on each side with vinaigrette and place on grill. Grill for 3 minutes per side. Fish will begin to slightly flake when done. Fish should reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Do not overcook.

Place fish onto plates and drizzle with additional vinaigrette. Can be served with grilled pineapple as garnish.

Nutrition Information
4 oz blue marlin:
Calories: 175.6    Fat: 5.3g    Chol: 55.9    Sod: 130.3mg    Carbs: 0    Fiber: 0    Protein: 29.3

2 Tbsp serving Apple Lime Vinaigrette (guesstimating based on making about 1.5cups for a total of 10 servings):
Calories: 68   Fat: 6g    Chol: 1.6    Sod: 0.7mg   Carbs: 3.7   Fiber: 0.5   Protein: 0.4   Sugars: 3.1

Roasted Vegetable and Chickpea Salad

I had a gourmet dinner last night. At home. Cooked by me! Well, mostly me--Ben grilled the fish.

It started with this warm vegetable salad recipe that I've been wanting to try--I found it on How Sweet It Is, one of the blogs that I follow. Then, I saw a flyer from our local HyVee that advertised blue marlin loins on sale (which I've never had before) and a recipe for grilling the blue marlin with an apple lime vinaigrette (which I'll post in the next day or so, I promise!).

But first, the vegetables! Roasted, then tossed in a sweet/sour vinaigrette, fresh herbs, creamy gorgonzola cheese and avocados. Mmmmm...

I followed the original recipe almost exactly this time around, but if when I make it again, I think I will actually cut out one can of chickpeas and one ear of corn and add in some cauliflower and zucchini or summer squash and possibly some bell peppers. My reason for this would be that many of the vegetables in this recipe are higher on the glycemic index, and therefore I consider them a little starchy to be my primary vegetables. Also, I'm not a HUGE blue cheese/gorgonzola fan (though it was delicious with this cheese!), so I might try to substitute feta instead, just to see how that tastes.

But even without my planned changes, this was DELICIOUS.


Roasted Vegetable and Chickpea Salad (from How Sweet It Is)

Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatos
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped  (the original recipe calls for red onion, but I hate red onion)
4 ears of fresh corn, corn cut from the cob
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 (15-ounce) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 avocado, chopped
3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil
3 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1 tablespoon freshly chopped mint
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and add tomatoes, peppers, corn, onions and garlic. Drizzle with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (I just sprayed mine well with my Misto olive oil sprayer), then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes, toss, then roast for 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
While veggies are cooling, add chickpeas to a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together remaining olive oil, vinegar and honey. Set aside.
Add veggies to the chickpeas in the bowl. Add in fresh herbs, then crumble on gorgonzola. Drizzle with dressing, tossing to coat, then top with freshly chopped avocado. Season more if desired. Serve immediately!

Nutrition Information
I'm not totally certain of the nutrition information yet, as I didn't measure out how much this recipe made and/or how much of it I actually ate--my best guess is that it makes about 3 cups of vegetables total, and a serving would be about 1/3 to 1/2 cup (maybe?). I'm ballpark guessing (after entering the recipe into livestrong.com with those amounts) that one serving would be around 200 calories (which isn't bad if you consider the corn/chickpeas to count as your starch and you eat it with a lean protein like blue marlin, tilapia, or chicken breast!).

Cuban-Style Chicken Wraps

I found the original recipe for this several years ago, in one of my sister's Cooking Light magazines. Since then, I've actually made this meal with various modifications; I'll go ahead and give you the original recipe from the magazine, but then explain some of the options I've found for modification. :)




Cuban-Style Chicken Wraps (from Cooking Light)
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into short strips
1/2 c. diced fresh pineapple
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp orange marmelade
1 can (15oz) black beans (I use Goya low-sodium beans), rinsed well
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Combine pineapple, beans, vinegar, and marmelade in saucepan. Add 1/8 tsp red pepper. Bring to simmer over medium heat; cook 1 minute, and then turn to low to keep warm.

Combine remaining spices and sprinkle over chicken. Coat chicken with cooking spray and cook over medium heat until done.

Serve together in a corn or flour tortilla.

Now, here are some of my modifications I've done in the past: 
1) If you don't have marmelade, just use a pinch of brown sugar (this is what I usually do).
2) Sometimes I like to mash a small slice of avocado onto the tortilla before adding the meat and bean mixture--makes it extra creamy and delicious. :)

The biggest modification that I've done was when I made this dinner last week: I seasoned the meat with Todd's Bayou Dirt instead of the pepper/salt/paprika (I still added 1/8 tsp of the pepper to the beans/pineapple, though). Ben actually suggested this change, because he wanted his meat to be seasoned more and a bit spicier. So, I put the chicken in a mixing bowl, and liberally added the Todd's Dirt, turning the chicken to coat it completely in the seasoning. I then added olive oil to the pan, and cooked the chicken on med-high heat to sear it and allow the seasoning to kind of create a crust on the chicken. It was delicious, and definitely spicier than we've had in the past, so this is probably how I'll season the chicken from here on out.

I served myself with two Mama Lupe Low Carb Tortillas (our local Baker's store carries them, only 60 calories each!), 4.5 oz of chicken (divided between the 2 tortillas), and about 1-2 tablespoons of the bean/pineapple mixture on each tortilla. I also added a side of steamed broccoli, to make sure I got my veggies!

Nutrition Information (2 chicken wraps, using Mama Lupe Low Carb Tortilla):
Calories: 342.44
Fat: 22.5g       Sodium: 567.62mg      Carb: 22.04g      Fiber: 11.16g       Prot: 48.72g        Sugars: 0.84

Cucumber & Radish Salad

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had a cool, Thai-style cucumber and radish salad with my baked chicken the other night, so I thought I'd post the recipe for the salad, too. It's fairly quick and easy to put together, requires no cooking, and is a light, summery salad that is a nice change from traditional lettuce salads. Also, it's kind of pretty! :)

I honestly can't remember where I found the recipe for this, so I apologize for not crediting the source here; if I ever do figure it out, I'll be sure to edit this post with that information.

Cucumber and Radish Salad
Ingredients
1 cup thinly sliced radish
1/2 cup finely chopped orange or red bell pepper
2 cucumbers (English cucumbers work best, as they have more "meat" and less seed/goo), thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
      Dressing
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
salt & pepper to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp kosher salt and just over 1/4 tsp ground pepper)

After slicing/chopping vegetables, toss them together in a dish. In a separate bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk with a fork. Pour dressing over vegetables, and gently toss or turn vegetables until they are all coated in the dressing. Set aside or in the fridge for at least 10 minutes, then toss vegetables in dressing again before serving.

I forgot to pick up some parsley, so just imagine it in there. ;)

A few notes on this salad:
1) using a mandolin slicer makes slicing the cucumbers/radishes much safer and quicker and gives you thinner slices than with a knife.
2) this dish is best served on the same day you make it. It's okay the next day, but tends to be a little sweeter (I think because the salt draws out the natural sugars in the cucumber and radish). Also, the pink skin on the radishes will bleed out and dye the dressing and parts of the cucumber pink by the next day. It's still good, but just looks a little odd...so if you want to make this a day ahead but don't want it to be pink, I suggest peeling the radishes.
3) I'm not completely sure how to calculate the nutritional value of this dish, since the dressing mostly ends up in the bottom of the dish, so I'm not going to provide that information here. For my purposes on my calorie tracking program, I just input the cucumbers/radish I ate (measured by the cup), and then guesstimated that I had about 1/2 tsp of olive oil, but your guess is as good as mine (vinegar and lemon juice have minimal calories and are considered "freebies" by my maintenance plan, so I didn't try to add those in).

Red Pepper & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

With 100+ degree temperatures this week, I was loathe to turn the oven on, but also didn't want to send poor Ben outside to stand over a hot grill. So, I decided to crank up the a/c and make some baked, stuffed chicken breasts (we've been getting a little sick of simple, plain chicken breasts, so I fancied them up a little bit).

I wanted to keep this low-calorie/low-fat, so I didn't want to do a bread stuffing or a traditional cordon bleu or florentine-style chicken. I opened the fridge to see what I already had that I could use, and right up front was my TJ's Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic. Perfect! I had just a little bit of feta left, so I decided to use that up, too--although I ended up only having enough feta for one chicken breast, so I supplemented with my chevre goat cheese and did one breast with feta and one with goat cheese. They were both tasty, in our opinion, so use whichever you prefer/have on hand. :)

This was delicious. Not too heavy, but very moist and flavorful. The most time-consuming part was pounding out the chicken breasts, but other than that it was simple and easy to throw together and bake--which also didn't take very long.


Red Pepper & Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ingredients
2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp Red Pepper Spread
2 Tbsp feta or chevre goat cheese (or 1 Tbsp each)
Panko bread crumbs
1 Tbsp egg white

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup!). Cover chicken breast with foil or plastic and pound out until about 1/4" thick (I use a frying pan for this, as it provides enough heft to make it easy, yet doesn't damage/tear the chicken).

Spread 1 Tbsp red pepper spread on one side of chicken breast, sprinkled on top with 1 Tbsp cheese. Roll chicken breast carefully (pushing filling back in as needed), secure with toothpick. Gently brush chicken with egg white, then carefully roll in panko bread crumbs to cover (I didn't measure how much stuck to the chicken breasts--for calorie counting, I'm guessing about 1 Tbsp per chicken breast??).

Bake at 400 degrees approximately 20-30 minutes, or until cooked through.

I ate my chicken with a cool, Thai-style cucumber and radish salad that I made while the chicken was baking--I'll be sure to post that recipe, too, either later today or sometime tomorrow.

Also, I usually eat 4oz of cooked protein at a meal, but my finished chicken breast weighed in at about 9oz. I guessed and mentally subtracted 1 oz for the pepper spread, putting it at 8oz. I probably should have cut it in half and only eaten that much, but I was so HUNGRY and it was soooo delicious--I ended up eating the whole thing. I don't feel too guilty about it, though, since it's mostly lean and healthy protein, as opposed to eating a giant slice of fudge cake. Anyway, for calorie-counting purposes, I'm just going to put the information below in according to my 8 oz stuffed chicken breast--feel free to eat a smaller portion and reduce your calorie intake if this is too much for you.


Nutrition Information
Calories:  304.3
Fat: 6.57g     Sodium: 100.85mg     Carb: 5.12g     Fiber: 1g     Protein: 50.52g     Sugars: 1.26