New Approach

So, I'm working at this thing called healthy living. It's rough. I'm not always on track. (In fact, I'm often off track.)

This blog will have to evolve with me or go away—so I'm gonna go with evolve!

For now I'll be journaling, and sharing recipes, and they won't all be 27g, but I promise they'll all be healthy. That said:

Today is day 2-in-a-row of eating super healthy. I feel good. When I woke up I weighed myself and was down 2.2 lbs, so that's a good start. Later I ran for about two minutes while walking the dog and it actually felt really good (whereas usually when I try to run for two minutes I'm hyper aware and bothered by my excess self, and I feel like I couldn't possibly stand running for a third minute).

I had the same salad for two meals today, because it was easy and fast to do so—work was crazy and I was fueled by lots of coffee, so I was anxious to just get things done, not mess around cooking myself fancy meals. Luckily it was pretty good, too, so eating it twice was actually enjoyable! Here's what that salad consisted of (apologies, I forgot to take pictures. I know, it's shameful.):

1c red leaf lettuce
1c romaine lettuce, chopped into thin strips
1/2 a grilled chicken breast, sliced
1/4c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 scallion
3 grape tomatoes
3T sliced black olives
1/3c Fage 0% plain greek yogurt
2T salsa
lots of cilantro
Franks Hot Sauce


I like to do my taco salads as a chopped salad—chopping all the lettuce into thin strips, and dicing all the vegetables into small bits—then everything mixes well. Just chop everything up, dollop with the greek yogurt and salsa, and top with as much cilantro and Frank's as you like.

Enjoy!

Yes, this. Amy Peohler, truth speaker.

Southtowns Healthy Meetup

Interested in getting back on the wagon, or helping others do the same? I decided to start a Meetup group—a weekly :45 meeting to get together for a cup of something healthy and keep eachother on track. Please join and spread the word!

Get Your Greens In Early

Wow, it's been a long time. I have some back-logged posts to get up here so there'll be new recipes coming soon.

Along with the arrival of spring, I am recommitting myself to the healthy stuff again. While no longer a pesca-vegetarian, the meat I use is organic, free-range, and/or grass fed as much as possible, and I'll keep posting lots of light, healthy vegetable-focused recipes. (Looking forward to doing fun new things with my CSA goods this year!) I hope you'll join me for it.

Today I just had a super simple smoothie for breakfast:

2 scoops of Lexington Co-op QuickTein, a cup of organic baby spinach and some water and ice, and voila - breakfast of champions. Not the best tasting protein shake mix ever though—so I'd recommend the Isopure I've mentioned before over the one above. But what a simple way to get some greens in at breakfast. Most people have caught on by now but if you haven't, please try it! You can barely taste the veggies when you get a good tasting protein shake mix.

Have a healthy day today!

photo credit: thebittenword.com via photopin cc

Shrimp, Broccoli and Fiddlehead Stirfry

I bought some fiddlehead ferns (cuz they look so cool!) but then waited too long to use them—so I needed a quick way to incorporate them into a meal and figured stir fry was a pretty safe bet. Luckily, it turned out halfway decent!

You'll need:
1 clove of garlic
Lemongrass
1 tsp. ginger (fresh or candied)
1 bunch of broccoli
1c fiddlehead ferns
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
14 shrimp
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Mirin
Red chili pepper flakes

Thoroughly clean the fiddleheads, chop the broccoli and onion, mince the garlic, and prep your shrimp. In a wok, heat up a small amount of oil and add in the garlic, stirring for 30 seconds. Toss in the onion, lemongrass and ginger and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. (Once stuff begins to stick, you can add a splash of the sauces or water, so as not to go overboard with oil.) Then, add in your fiddleheads—you need to make sure these cook all the way through, so give them a few minutes, covered if needed, to get them cooked most of the way before adding in your broccoli. Once the fiddleheads are almost fork tender, add in the broccoli and red bell pepper and cook just until they get that bright color, but still have a bit of crunch. Add in the shrimp, the sauces if you haven't added them yet, and a couple shakes of red chili pepper flakes for kick. Cook until the shrimp is done (4 minutes tops) and enjoy! Makes two 27g servings.

Garlic Scallion Eggplant

Whenever possible, it's good to keep your recipes simple and from scratch—that way there are no hidden calorie bombs. This is super basic, easy and fast.

You'll need:
1 eggplant
1 scallion
1 clove of garlic
1 T. olive oil or sesame oil
Salt & pepper or soy sauce

Chop your eggplant into bite-sized pieces, mince your garlic, and slice your scallions. Heat up a wok or sautée pan with oil and add in the garlic and scallions; stir constantly for about a minute. Add in the eggplant and stir to coat, season with some salt and pepper, and cover, stirring every minute or two. Once the eggplant is cooked all the way through (about 10 minutes), serve it up. Feel free to season with a little soy sauce or similar, if this is a little to bare for you. This isn't 27g of protein, but it's lite and easy, so I say roll with it!

Dual Salads

Weeknights can be tough, especially if you're challenged with accommodating different dietary restrictions and personal tastes. That's where these delicious salads come in—everybody adds their own toppings, chooses or makes their own dressing, and everyone has something they actually like. We kept this one pretty simple.

For both salads, you'll need:
Mixed field greens
Scallions
Red bell pepper
Salt & Pepper

Tuna Steak Salad:
1 Tuna steak
Lemon pepper
1/2c. fat free Greek yogurt
Dill
Juice of 1 lemon

Chicken & Bleu Cheese Salad:
1 Chicken breast

Bleu cheese
Ken's Lite Honey Mustard dressing

Chop your scallions and red bell peppers and sprinkle onto bowls full of field greens.

For the 27g dressing, mix together the Greek yogurt, juice of 1 lemon, and dill, salt and pepper to taste.

Cook your chicken (we get the marinated organic chicken from Wegmans) in a pan on the stovetop, on medium-high, about 7 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, broil the tuna, seasoned with lemon pepper, for about 4 to 5 minutes each side. Allow the chicken and tuna to cool for a couple minutes, then chop up into bite-sized pieces.

Top one salad with chicken, bleu cheese crumbles, and your store-bought dressing. Top the other (27g) salad with the tuna and as much of the dressing as you like. (Which is the best part of this dressing, no need to go easy on it, go ahead and load it up!) Enjoy!

Back on the wagon

So, it turns out that the only thing worse than getting fat, is getting fat again. Which is bound to happen when you go back to your same old tricks. No excuses, just the reality that life happens and sometimes that leads to a lack of focus, and plates piled too high and full of the wrong things. So back on the wagon again (hopefully without breaking it) and more new healthy recipes coming soon! 

Purple Chocolate Shake

If you're looking for a super fast meal, try this tasty beverage on for size. While not quite as low sugar as most of our recipes, it's still pretty reasonable in the scheme of things, and you'll be surprise to know the real secret purple ingredient is not a sugary fruit mess—and it'll still give you almost half your daily requirement of Vitamin C, some potassium, vitamin A and fiber. Trust me, Sunny D's got nothin' on this "purple stuff."

You'll need:
1 scoop of a chocolate protein shake mix
1/4c fat free ricotta
1c cold water
1c ice
a handful of raspberries
1/2c chopped purple cabbage (yes, really)

Simply add all the ingredients to your blender to combine, and enjoy a full glass. This bad boy is packed with about 27g protein, and enough fiber to stave off hunger for several hours. Bottoms up!

Food-Free Indulgence

A while back, at the prompting of a friend, I read the book, "Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating" by Geneen Roth. Now, I am not a fan of self-help books usually, but I do enjoy reading about nutrition and the science of food, so I was pretty easily swayed into this. It was actually a pretty good read—a lot of it was spot on, while some of the uber self-help-ish exercises were a bit much for me. But there was one exercise that I thought was a total no brainer, easy enough to actually do, and good enough to share.

The premise is this: if you overeat, chances are, you use eating as a relaxation technique. You're not good at giving yourself a break, permission to relax, and you don't want others to see you doing nothing. But eating, well, hey—ya gotta eat! No one would fault you for taking a lunch break, right? Or a dinner break? Or a snack break, I mean, if you're hungry, right? So food quickly becomes our only allowable indulgence. The only thing we can do to take a break without looking lazy or feeling like a slacker.

But there are a million ways to take a break, and indulge, take care of yourself, relax for ten minutes, without stuffing your face. So as Geneen Roth recommends, write a list of the many other things you could do to treat yourself—sans food. Here's mine:

Do yoga.
Or just stretch and breathe, even if only for ten minutes.
Walk the dog.
Take a nap.
Read a magazine.
Take a bubble bath.
Lay out in the sun (with sunscreen of course...)
Paint my nails.
Give myself a home facial.
Enjoy a cup of tea in absolute silence.
Listen to a podcast.
Go for a walk alone. Yes alone. Not even with the dog.
Garden.
Get a massage.
Go to the gym.
Go to a park and people watch.
Write in a journal or blog.
Do something creative (but non-work), like photography, painting or drawing.
Listen to music.

Give myself a pedicure.
Light candles and meditate for 10 minutes.
Call a friend and catch up.


All of these things can take 5 minutes, or half an hour. The best part is, you choose when, where, for how long. And don't feel guilty about it. In fact, you'll probably feel awesome about it. Because it's good for your soul, and good for your waistline. Let me know what your alternative indulgences are!

Dodging the Camera

If you're reading this blog, you've likely done this many times before.....you're at a family gathering, your snap-happiest family member breaks out her camera phone and wants you to smile like you're thrilled to have your current weight captured on film and spread across facebook like wildfire. What she doesn't know is that, while you love the time with your family, and would love a way to remember it, all you can think about is how fat you'll look next to your petite cousin or your stick-figure sister, that you feel like a stuffed pepper in this damn outfit, and all you really want to do is duck into the bathroom for a few minutes until the flashes die down. (Or go home and put on your comfiest pajama pants...whatever.)

We've all been there. But I want to share with you this perspective from another blogger. Thanks to her, no matter what my size, next time I will do my best to man up, and enjoy the opportunity to have my favorite moments captured—with me in them.

Fat-Free Dill Pickle Dip

I LOVE PICKLES. The salt can be killer on a diet, but as long as you're not eating 6 whole pickles a night, you can get away with this. Plus, this is a great party food (as most dips are)—you know no one else is going to bring the same thing, and you'll have something you can eat without regretting it.

8oz. pkg fat free cream cheese or neufachtel
2 T. fat free plain greek yogurt
4 dill pickles, chopped
3T. dill pickle juice
1 tsp. dried dill
salt and pepper

Let the cream cheese soften a bit. Simply mix together all of the ingredients and refrigerate overnight. Serve cold, garnished with some extra dill. Great with celery, carrots, or turnip chips.

You probably won't want to make a whole 27g meal out of this, but it’s perfect as a high-protein, low fat, low carb snack!

Tuna Salad Wraps

I’ve been on an unseasonable tex-mex kick, but hey—it tastes good and it’s healthy, so I see no reason to ignore the craving! These tuna wraps are a way-healthy spin on fish tacos. A little kick and a little crunch go a long way.

4 large leaves iceberg lettuce
1c. cabbage, thinly sliced
1 can of solid white albacore tuna
2oz. fat free shredded cheddar
1 scallion, chopped
pickled jalapenos
Frank’s hot sauce

Prep all of your ingredients, and then build these just like you would a taco—pile each leaf of iceberg lettuce with an equal amount of the ingredients, a couple jalapenos and Frank’s to taste. Recipe makes two 27g servings.

Cilantro Cabbage Salad

Cabbage is an uber-healthy vegetable to work into your diet—and even more so if you can squeeze in a few different types. They're all high in fiber, low in calories, and totally fat free. Eat it steamed, and it could lower your cholesterol. Eat it raw, and get a little dose of cancer-prevention. Here, we're going with the latter:

1/2 head of green cabbage

1/2 head of purple cabbage

cilantro
1/2c chopped walnuts

juice of 2 limes

salt and pepper

Slice the cabbage thin and chop roughly into 2" length pieces. Add the walnuts and a bunch of fresh chopped cilantro, or 2 to 3 T. of this prepared stuff, which I like to keep on hand in case of emergency. Squeeze in the juice of two limes, season with just a touch of salt and pepper and toss until all the cabbage is well coated. 

I had a big bowl of this as my vegetable, along side my entrée—in the interest of full disclosure—a piece of pizza. (Crustless at least, and the filling cabbage did keep me from digging back in for a second slice!) But if you’re gonna be awesome and healthy, enjoy this with whatever high protein option you can scrounge up: cottage cheese, a piece of fish, whatever ya got.

This salad also keeps pretty well. Cabbage is hearty and the lime juice will keep it crisp and bright for a day or two in the fridge. (Try it with a piece of cajun-seasoned fish on day two.) Enjoy!

Spinach Feta Fritatta

Breakfast is one of the easiest meals to make low fat and high protein, thanks to products like Egg Beaters and fat free cheeses. And while I love scrambled eggs, sometimes I like to just change up the final form a little bit to keep it interesting.

1 3/4c egg substitute
2oz fat free feta cheese crumbles
1 scallion, finely chopped
2 handfuls fresh baby spinach
salt and peppers

Spray your frying pan with non-stick spray; cook the spinach, covered, on medium-high, for about 2 minutes till wilted.

Add the egg beaters, sprinkle in almost all of the feta, and stir briefly. Cover and let cook all the way through. Top with the rest of the fat free feta, and your 27g breakfast for two is served!

Green Stirfry

This is super simple. All you need is:

minced garlic
1 green bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 eggplant, cubed
1/2 bunch of bok choy, chopped, separated into leafy portions and stem portions
3 tbsp water or veg. broth
low sodium soy sauce

Make sure you prep all your vegetables first, so they're ready to throw in. This is great for a busy night because you can always do your chopping a day or two ahead of time (well, maybe not the eggplant).

Prep your wok or skillet with a bit of non-stick spray. Heat over a medium-high flame, then toss in your minced garlic and stir constantly for about 1 minute. Toss in the stem portions and bit of water or broth. Cook, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes, until they look like they're beginning to soften up. Add the green bell peppers, eggplant, leafy bok choy greens, a little more liquid and some soy sauce. Stir to combine, lower heat and cover for about 5 minutes. Check on this every couple of minutes, stirring to make sure nothing's sticking. If it begins to stick, just add some more liquid.

Cook until the eggplant is done all the way through, the leafy greens are wilted and the other vegetables are still a little crisp. Season to taste with more soy sauce, and serve. Goes great with scallops or chicken for your 27g!

Cajun Tilapia over Cilantro Coleslaw

Tilapia isn’t my favorite fish (as I’ve probably mentioned) but it does have its pluses: it’s low cal and low fat, doesn’t have an overpowering flavor, is a super inexpensive protein, and my favorite part—it’s quick to thaw and cook.

So if you’re in the mood for something southwestern-ish that doesn’t have to be wrapped in a high-carb taco shell, this is the ticket!

Fish:
2 tilapia filets (serves 2)
cajun seasoning
non-stick spray

Cilantro Coleslaw:
purple cabbage
green cabbage
cilantro
lime juice

You can prepare the coleslaw a day ahead of time; it’s not necessary, but it does allow the flavors to really combine well. To make the slaw, all you have to do is slice the cabbage thin and toss together with cilantro, lime juice and a little salt and pepper.

To prepare the fish, spray skillet with non-stick spray and heat over a medium-high flame. Once the pan is hot, place in the tilapia filets and season generously with cajun seasoning. You’ll want to use a cajun mix with a good amount of spice (since the coleslaw will balance the heat), but not too much salt. I love this one from Penzey’s. Cook the fish for about 2–3 minutes on each side. (Fast, right!?) When it’s done, it should have a nicely browned surface, and flake appart easily.

Serve the tilapia hot off the skillet onto a bed of the chilled cilantro coleslaw. Though you could put this combo in a tortilla shell, I don’t think you’ll miss it one bit!

Roasted Red Pepper Bisque

This isn't 27g all on it's own, of course, but the recipe is good, and it's still super low fat and low carb—so we'll roll with it.

We got a TON of peppers this fall in our CSA, so I had lots of peppers on hand, and still have a bunch in the freezer. This is a great way to put them to use! You'll need:

5 large red bell peppers or red carmen peppers
3 1/2 C vegetable broth
1/2 tsp hot Hungarian paprika
1 packet Stevia
3/4 C almond milk
1/2 C fat free grated Parmesan cheese
chili flakes

The hardest part of this recipe is roasting the red peppers, but have no fear, it's not as scary as you think. Over an open flame, like a gas stove top, place your red peppers. Watch them carefully, turning with tongs every couple of minutes, until the peppers are blackened on all sides. Remove from the flame and place them in a brown paper bag to steam for about 10 minutes—this causes the peppers to sweat, and that blackened pepper skin will come right off.

Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off the skin, and remove the stem and seeds. Give them a rough chop and cook in sauce pot with the vegetable broth for about 10 minutes. Once the peppers are soft, puree with a stick blender (or in batches using a regular blender).

Add in the paprika, stevia, and chili flakes to taste and simmer for about 5 more minutes until all the flavors meld together. Slowly, whisk in the milk and grated parmesan. Last, season to taste with some chili flakes and sea salt.

I served this with a broiled tilapia filet to add up to my 27g, and rounded it out with some steamed garlic greens on the side—now that's a balanced and virtually fat-free cold-weather meal!

Dine out for four-legged friends!

Usually I'm touting the healthiest dish I can throw together—but on Tuesday, November 6th,  we can all dine out for the good health of animals in Buffalo, New York! If ever there were an excuse to splurge, this is it.

One of my nearest and dearest clients, the SPCA Serving Erie County, puts on The Big Chew each year, a fundraiser to care for the many animals they rescue year-round. This local organization is not a part of any national organization, and doesn't receive funds from the government, which is why they need our help! So Buffalo-area restaurants band together, offering a portion of their proceeds from meal purchases on this day to help out a most worthy group.

So tomorrow, cast your vote for President, then stop by a participating restaurant for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Skip the bread and pastas, stick with protein and veggies, and remember—this one's for the animals!

Salted Salmon with Greens and Grilled Seasonal Vegetables

It's nearing the end of grilling season here in the north, so we've tried to take advantage of the last good month of weather. This time around, we threw on some fresh veggies and wild-caught salmon. That's one great thing about healthy dinners—if you keep it simple, they can be very quick and easy!

2 pieces wild-caught salmon
black salt
greens (whatever kind you have—kale, beet greens, swiss chard)
vinegar
zucchini
purple bell pepper
red onion
fresh rosemary
balsamic vinegar

Slice the zucchini, chop the onion, and deseed and chop the bell pepper. Toss together with rosemary in some balsamic vinegar and place on the grill in a grill basket. Let this begin to cook, stirring occasionally, while you prep your salmon and greens.

Season your salmon with a little bit of the black salt (what's shown here was a bit much, so take it easy—you can always add more later). Place on a piece of foil and set aside.

With the greens, just chop them up and throw them in a skillet with a little bit of water and a dash of vinegar. Usually I would add salt, but the salted salmon gives you all you need here. Cover and let cook on low.

Put the salmon (on the foil) on the grill. Cook about 5 minutes on each side. By the time your salmon is done, your greens and your grilled vegetables should be good to go.

Bon appetit!