2 tbs dark soy sauce (also known as Asian cooking caramel and is thick as molasses).
1 tsp light soy sauce.
1 tsp oyster sauce.
1 tsp garlic chili sauce.
1 tsp salt.
1 cup low sodium broth (chicken, beef, or vegetable).
Optional Ingredients
Broccoli.
Baby bok choy.
Green onions.
Sesame seed oil.
Instructions
Boil chow mien noodles for 30 seconds, drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.
The the same with the vegetables by blanching for 1 minute, rinsing in cold water, and set aside.
Prepare the sauce by adding the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, and broth into a bowl and mix well.
Using a large frying pan on medium-high heat, start pan-frying the ground beef. Add minced garlic once the ground beef is brown on the outside. Keep cooking until ground beef is dry. Add the sauce into ground beef. You can add more broth or water if you want more sauce.
Add noodles and vegetables to the beef sauce and mix thoroughly.
Serve on a plate. Drizzle 1 tsp of sesame seed oil and green onions.
Do you like wonton soup? I love love LOVE wonton soup, especially when I am feeling sick and just want something warm in my belly for comfort. Wonton soup is my go-to comfort food and I have the best homemade wonton soup recipe you should try now.
We love jalapeños. We grow jalapeños in our garden in the summer and we (actually … mostly my husband) will put jalapeños into EVERY thing. Have you tried a Jalapeno Margarita? LOL
So one day, I added 1/2 cup of chopped jalapenos into my very popularLow Fat Cornmeal Muffin recipe and my husband was in heaven. Thus, the low fat jalapeño cornbread was born. It came out sooooo delicious. I also sliced jalapenos to put on top of the batter before baking for garnish. Big mistake … so spicy, but still so good. We tamed the spiciness by slicing the bread in half, toasting in a toaster, and buttering both halves with maple or honey butter.
“Made with Love” – Jalapeño Cornmeal Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce (room temperature)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup chopped green jalapeños (about 3 peppers)
12 slices of jalapeños with seeds (cut thickness to your tolerance of heat)
Instructions
Stir dry ingredients together.
Add the wet ingredients and beat just until all ingredients are blended.
Place one jalapeño slice on top of each muffin batter.
Bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.
Immediately run a small metal spatula (or small knife) around each bread to loosen and drop bread onto a cooling rack.
Best served warm straight from the oven.
MY KITCHEN TOOLS
The spatula I used to separate the bread from the pan after baking is aWilton 9-Inch Icing Spatula which you can find at your local housewares store or online at Amazon.
I use aWilton Brownie Bar Pan because it gives you square “muffins” and you can slide each bread in half like sliced bread and toast it. Got mine from Walmart, but you can find them at Michaels or online at Amazon.
This is one of the most refreshing side dishes to make in the summer, especially when good quality corn can easily be found in local grocery stores. It is very appetizing and appealing to look at. It has all the taste elements of sweetness from the corn, acidity (sourness) from the lemon juice, and saltiness from the … salt. Sometimes we leave out the jalapeño because the purple onions are spicy enough. The cilantro and onions also give it an awesome fragrance that will be a great hit in your house. And best of all, it is incredibly healthy!
Ingredients
4 whole sweet corns (on the cob)
1 jalapeño pepper seeded
1/2 cup finely chopped purple onions
1/4 cups chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt (or lemon flavoured salt)
Fresh ground pepper
4 tablespoons lemon juice
Optional
1 red bell peppers (chopped)
Cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
Instructions
Bring water to boil and cook sweet corn for 8 mins. Dunk in ice cold water bath to prevent overcooking.
Cut the kernels off the corn into a large mixing bowl.
I like Malaysian chicken satay and I like Indian curry. So why not mix the two of my favourite dishes together into a rich chicken satay curry dish? Don’t let the list of ingredients scare you because this dish is very quick to make in under 40 minutes.
Warning: This is a dish for your cheat day. But trust me, it is well worth it. 🙂
1 tsp finely grated ginger
2 finely grated garlic cloves
2 shallots (chopped)
1 red pepper (cut in strips)
1 celery stick (chopped)
1 large chicken breast (cut into cubes)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup unsalted chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh cilantro
Crushed peanuts (roasted, unsalted)
Instructions
Mix the marinade ingredients until smooth.
In a Ziplock bag, marinade the chicken breast cubes with 1/3 of the satay marinade. Chill overnight to infuse the flavour.
Saute shallots, garlic, ginger, celery, and remaining marinade in 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat to release fragrance and flavours.
Add chicken broth and coconut milk.
Add chicken breast and red peppers.
Cook for 20-30 minutes. You can also precook the chicken on a grill or in a sous vide cooker beforehand.
Serve over a bed of rice. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts.
Those of us watching our weight know that pancakes and weight loss don’t really go well together. However, healthy happy pancakes every once in a while can’t harm anyone especially when one pancake is worth 1 Weight Watcher point (old system). I searched and searched the web for a low fat healthy pancake recipe and to be honest none of them looked appetizing. When you start removing key ingredients that change the chemistry of a good pancake, you’re left with dense, non-fluffy pancakes. You can change ingredients, but only if you’re smart about it. For example, apple sauce works as a liquid replacement in some recipes but not all recipes.
Here I took a simple pancake recipe and modified it just enough to get those crazy fluffy awesome pancakes that I have missed since starting my journey over 5 years ago. This recipe makes 9 round fluffy pancakes, just enough for my hubby and I (5 for him 4 for me). Be advised, point values reflect the old Weight Watchers point system and account for an undressed pancake. If you’re going to dress these up make sure you count your points accordingly. I like Smuckers no-sugar added jam. Very little calories per serving so it goes a long way.
Ingredients
3/4 cup Flour
1 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 tablespoon Stiva
3/4 cup Milk
1 Egg White
1 1/2 tablespoons Melted Low Fat Becel Margarine
Directions
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and form a well in the center.
Mix all wet ingredients in a bowl.
Pour the wet ingredients in the dry ingredients and mix (batter maybe lumpy that’s ok)
Spray pan with oil (i have an oil spray bottle so little oil is used) if not use .5 tsp of oil and spread around the pan.
Drop by tablespoons in to pan and watch the magic happen.
Once cooked take a paper towel and whip off used oil and put in fresh oil for your second batch.
Top with your favorite topping and enjoy (make sure you account for your topper points)
Whenever we are eating out a restaurant, if we see an edamame dish on the appetizer menu, we will get it. We love these soy bean pods so much because they are tasty, very high in protein (11g for every 100g of edamame), and light enough to not spoil your main course entree.
The first time we had flavoured edamame (other than the steamed edamame you get at Japanese restaurants) was on a trip to Disneyland in Los Angeles. We ordered a spicy edamame from the hotel cocktail lounge and loved it. The flavour was fairly simple, so we came home to reproduce it and came up with this recipe.
Hope you enjoy it. It is also husband approved.
Sauce
1.5 tbsp sweet chilli sauce.
1 tbsp light soy sauce.
1/2 tsp garlic chilli sauce (Not Sriracha. The kind that comes in a jar.)
1/4 tsp chilli pepper flakes.
1 whole garlic bulb sliced.
1/2 tbsp olive oil.
(Optional) Coarse sea salt.
1 bag of frozen edamame cooked to instructions in the microwave.
Instructions
Prepare sauce by combining sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, and garlic chilli sauce. Set sauce aside to prepare the edamame.
Sauté the sliced garlic and chilli pepper flakes in oil for 1 minute until fragrant or nicely toasted (depending on your preference).
Toss in cooked edamame.
Add sauce immediately.
Remove from heat once the edamame is thoroughly coated with the sauce.
For a bit of crunch, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and serve.
Optional
Double the ingredients for the sauce if you prefer a “wet” edamame. Some people enjoy dipping the edamame in sauce while eating.
For those who love onions, try the recipe with different kinds of onions or together with garlic if desired.
Yesterday I was once again wondering what to make for dinner. I had ground beef, a quarter head of a large cabbage and a pantry full of spices. I let my imagine run wild and created a Curry Beef and Cabbage dinner which turned out really delicious and healthy. This recipe makes 4 servings with each serving being about 5 ww points each (OLD POINT SYSTEM)
Ingredients:
1lb Extra Lean Ground Beef
1/2 Large Onion chopped
1/4 Large head of Cabbage sliced in long thin strings
1/4 tsp of oil
2 tbls of water
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Masala Spice
1/4 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp Black Mustard Seeds
Salt to taste (optional)
Directions:
Brown 1lb of Ground Beef in a large pan.
Once cooked remove Ground Beef to the side.
Add Onions to the pan and allow to cook until clear in the Ground Beef juices.
Add 1/4 tsp of oil to the pan and all the spices.
Allow spices and onions to cook for a couple of minutes in the pan until fragrant.
Add sliced Cabbage and the 2 tbls of water.
Cook down the cabbage about 5 – 10 mins until they resemble a noodle like movement.
I love granola bars and usually have one as part of my workout routine. Since starting my clean eating lifestyle change, I have not bought a single one that is commercially made with unknown ingredients. There are so many added preservatives in commercially packaged granola bars that, lets face it, the general population cannot pronounce. I also really liked the Cranberry Luna bars, which for some reason I can no longer get here in Canada. Therefore, I created this delicious Cranberry Granola Bar to combine my two favourite bars. The best part about this recipe is that the granola bars will hold their shape and it’s 100% husband and friend approved. This recipe make 24 servings and equals 3.5 old weight watcher points per serving.
Ingredients:
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1.5 cup mixed nuts (I used a Natural Trail Mix with a mixture of nuts and some dried fruit)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 (14 ounce) can low fat sweetened condensed milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
lightly coat a 13 x 9 pan with oil (spray works) or you can use a brownie pan (used for the bars in the picture above)
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
Add condensed milk
Spread mixture in the pan you are using and place in the oven. for a 13 x 9 inch pan cooking time will be 20-25 mins. If using a brownie pan cooking time will be 15 – 20 mins. When the edges are lightly brown they are done.
Pull out of the over and let cool before removing them and cutting them (if using a 13 x 9 inch pan).
I am really enjoying my new found love for clean eating. Mostly because I get to experiment with amazing fresh foods like this one. Red Quinoa with a little kick from Jalapeno (spice it up a notch by adding more if you wish). One serving is 1 cup and this recipe makes approximately 5 cups. Each serving is 4 weight watcher points (223 cals, 4g fat, 5g fiber and 8g protein (without feta)). Add additional 1 point for the feta since it is optional.
Ingredients
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tsp Whole Cumin Seeds
½ Onion, finely chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, thinly sliced into half circles
1 Red Bell Pepper, seeds and ribs removed,finely chopped
1 tbls grated fresh Ginger
2 minced fresh Garlic Cloves
1½ cups Red Quinoa
2¼ cups Low-sodium Vegetable Broth
¼ tsp Ground Coriander
¼ tsp Ground Turmeric
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Bay Leaf
½ cup Chopped Cilantro
1 tbls of low fat Feta Cheese (Optional)
Directions
In a medium pot heat Olive Oil on medium heat.
Add Cumin Seeds and stir in oil until fragrant.
Add Onion, Jalapeño, Cherry Peppers, Ginger and Garlic, cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 3 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients, except for Cilantro and Feta. Stir to combine and Increase heat and bring to a boil
Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed and quinoa is plump.
Remove from heat and keep covered for 5 minutes to allow all water to absorb.
Remove Cinnamon Stick and Bay Leaf and discard. Stir in Cilantro, top with Feta Cheese and serve.
A quick, 20 minute vegetarian recipe that is simple to make, uses very few ingredients and is also clean eating. This recipe took almost no time at all to make because of its simplicity, but was also very flavourful and tummy-filling after we were done eating. This was perfect to make right after work. No need to thaw or defrost anything or worry about cooking protein properly. 100% vegetarian too, which is a nice break from all the BBQ meats we were eating. The entire recipe makes 2 servings. Each stuffed pepper half was 2.5 weight watcher points for a total of 5 points.
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked brown rice (we used Uncle Ben’s brown rice)
2 bell peppers, halved and seeded
2 green onions, thinly diced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian or vegetable seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt (we used seasoning salt)
Pinch fresh ground black pepper
1 diced tomato
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
Directions:
Pre-cook brown rice.
Preheat oven or BBQ grill to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly grease a baking sheet or the BBQ grill. Place peppers on the baking sheet or grill with cut-side facing down. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until peppers are tender.
Lightly coat a frying pan with cooking oil and cook green onions, basil, seasoning, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook for 5 minutes until the green onions are wilted.
Stir in chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
Spoon in the pre-cooked rice and mix in feta cheese.
Spoon the completed filling into the stuffed peppers and garnish with feta cheese.
My hubby and I have started to really consider the foods we consume daily and have decided to start trying new fresh Clean Eating recipes. What is Clean Eating? Simply put, it’s consuming foods in the most natural state and not consuming foods that have be processed and contain chemicals. It’s going back to our roots when we were cavemen and women and we did not have the luxury of having a McDonald’s or some other fast food joint around every corner. Pure simple food.
Here is my first recipe: Chicken Spinach & Feta Roll. I will do my best to calculate the WW Points for all the new recipes. This one contains approximately 5.5 WW points (old system) for one chicken roll. I served mine with a chunky side of salad, cucumbers, tomatoes and celery on a bed of butter lettuce. This recipe is for two people, so please double if you’re making for more.
Ingredients:
2 – 4ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup fresh spinach (either chopped or whole)
1/2 cup light feta
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes NOT in oil. Diced into small pieces.
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp garlic powder (I used organic garlic powder)
1 tsp dried basil
Pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place chicken breast between plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 inch thick.
Combine spinach, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, lemon zest, garlic powder, basil and pepper in a bowl and mix well.
Lay chicken breast skin side down on a baking sheet.
Put approximately 2 tbsp of spinach mixture on widest part of chicken breast and then tightly roll the breast. Use tooth picks to secure the ends of the chicken.
At the end of May 2013, the hubby and I jumped on a plane to headed London. UK for 2 weeks. It was an incrediable journey, one I will never forget. One of the most popular drinks in London besides Beer is Pimm’s. You see Pimm’s advertising everywhere and it’s by far the most refreshing drink you will ever have. We enjoyed Pimm’s so much that we did a Pimm’s Crawl one Saturday all over London. Considering there’s a pub on every corner it was not so hard to do. So next time your wondering what to make for you and your guests, ask youself this.. Is It Pimm’s O’clock??
Ingredients:
Pimm’s
Diet Lemonaid Carbonated (I purchased my at superstore and it’s the PC brand)
2 fresh Mint leaves
1 whole Strawberry sliced
1 Lemon wedge or slice (I add 1-2 slices)
1 Lime wedge or slice (I add 1-2 slices)
A few slices of Cucumber
Ice (I perfer crushed)
Directions:
Add the fruits, veggies and mint to a tall glass and fill with ice.
Add 1.5 ounces of Pimms.
Top up with the carbonated Diet Lemonaid drink
Stir to mix everything up. Serve and Enjoy. The challenge will be stopping at one.
Here’s another curry dish by my wonderful hubby. There are some days I just don’t feel like cooking so my hubby will whip out his cook book and make a delicious low fat curry dish. This here is Mung Bean Curry and its 100% vegetarian friendly and totally waste line friendly two. 1 full cup of this yummy curry is a whopping 3 weight watchers points (old system). Add a 1/2 cup of rice to the mix and you will have a complete healthy dinner.
Ingredients:
3 cups of Water
200 grams of green Mung Beans (about a hair over 200 ml)
A Classic Steamed Lobster. Have you ever had that moment where you just don’t know what to make for dinner? You turn to the hubby for some suggestions and he’s not helpful in the least. Well we had this moment earlier this week. For some reason I just blurted out, hey lets have Lobster and to my surprise he agreed. I was shocked since Lobster has a nice price tag but I wasn’t about to turn up the opportunity to cook something new. Don’t let Lobster scare you, this dish took about 20 mins to prepare and most of that time was spent on the dipping sauce. The total point value of this dish is 4 points with the dipping sauce (about 1/4 cup per lobster). You can add a side salad if you wish but we found the lobster filling on its own.
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup of Chicken Broth
1 tbls of fresh Lemon Juice
1.5 tsp chopped Parsely
1.5 tsp chopped Tarragon
1.5 tsp chopped Watercress
1/4 tsp of salt
Pepper to taste
4 1lb Lobsters (we picked the small cheaper lobsters) DO NOT remove the rubber bands. These can be removed after the Lobster has cooked. I don’t want anyone to get hurt by the pinchers.
Directions:
In a small sauce pan over low heat add the Chicken Broth, Lemon Juice, Parsely, Tarragon, Watercress, Salt and Pepper.
Boil water in a large pot with some salt (this make the water boil faster, who knew).
Add the Lobster’s and cook for 8-10 mins for a 1lb Lobster. Adjust cooking time by a couple of mins if you lobster is less or more the 1lb.
Transfer those beautifully cooked Lobsters to a serving dish and enjoy with the dipping sauce. The fun part begins when you crack open the Lobster to get at that delicious meat.
My husband and I often check out the liquor store for new and interesting liquor. While walking around West Edmonton Mall we stopped at the liquor store by HMV and I noticed this attractive bottle with tiny red circles. I was intrigued so I took the bottle to my hubby and he’s like why not. Wow what a fantastic buy. Here’s a glass of Sparkling Strawberry Wine a nice light drink on a summer afternoon. Watch out for those little wild strawberry’s in the Fragoli, they pack quite the alcoholic punch.
Ingredients:
1 ounce of Fragoli – Wild Strawberry Liquor
Sparkling White Wine (I used ShooFly Frisk Prickly)
One more fantastic slow cooker recipe. I had a can of chickpeas in the cupboard and started to thing of various dinner combinations to cook these with. I love using my slow cooker, especially on the days I work from home. Chickpeas, Curry and a slow cooker just seemed like a fantastic combination so I looked up various recipes and came up with this combination. It seems you need curry powder and coconut milk to make a good curry. Toss in some vegetables and spices and there you have it, a tasty Vegetable Curry dish. I served this particular dish with couscous but you could use rice if you wish. This recipe makes approximately 4-6 servings (depending on the amount of veggies you add). 1 cup is approximately 4 weight watchers points (old points, i don’t do the new system). Add 1/2 cup of couscous for 1.5 points and here you have a filling 5.5 point dish. The couscous I use is organic and seems to have less points per serving then other coucous types i have seen.
Ingredients
3 cups Cauliflower chopped
1 15-ounce can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup frozen cut Green Beans
1/2 cup of frozen Corn
1 cup sliced Carrots
1/2 cup chopped Onion
1 14-ounce can Vegetable Broth
3 teaspoons Curry Powder
1 14-ounce can light Coconut Milk
1 tsp of dried Basil (feel free to add other spices as well)
Couscous
Directions
In a 4-quart slow cooker, combine Cauliflower, Chickpeas, Green Beans, Corn, Carrots, Onion, and Basil.
Stir in Broth and Curry Powder.
Cover and cook on low-heat for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Hello to all my happy blog followers. I had to post about this new product I bought the other day and instantly fell in love with.
DANONE has created a new low calorie, zero fat, delicious stirred Greek Yogurt. The one thing I love most about this yogurt is that one serving contains 50 calories and 8g of protein. That’s a lot of protein in a tiny little cup. As everyone knows, I love DANONE’s Silhouette yogurts and I use them in my Basic Smoothie Recipe and my Amanda’s Special Breakfast Parfait recipes. This new yogurt by DANONE is just as amazing and can be used in the recipes just mentioned above as a great protein boost after your daily workout. Also, because it is stirred Greek yogurt, the texture is thick, much more thicker than the regular Silhouette varieties.
If I can encourage you to go out there and try something new, I would highly suggest this yogurt. If you do, please leave a comment letting me know if you liked it as well. I am just happy to share my new favorite treat and I am NOT being paid by DANONE to promote this.
Here’s a great fish recipe I tweaked from a previous Weight Watchers recipe I found on line. The best thing about this recipe is it’s baked in a foil packet. Cooking in a foil packet allows all the juices and flavours to marry nicely together. Foil recipes can also be used while camping which my hubby and I do a lot of in the summer. It’s quick, easy and an all in one meal. Foil cooking also allows for a nice clean up after. Just toss the foil packet in the garbage when your done. This recipe serves 2 people (4.5 WW points/serving). When cooking for more guests make sure to adjust the ingredients for the right amount.
Ingredients:
2 – 4 ounce snapper filets
20 small cherry tomatoes halfed
1 cup canned artichoke hearts without oil, drained and quartered
1 clove garlic sliced
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450ºF.
Tear off a 12-inch long piece of aluminum foil and place it on your work surface.
Place one fish fillet in the center of the foil and top with half the cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts and garlic.
Add half the lemon juice, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper to each packet.
Bring the two long sides of the foil together over the fillet; fold and crimp closed.
Make sure the packet is completely sealed with no leaks or holes.
Transfer both packets to a large baking sheet and bake until hot and steaming, about 15-20 minutes.
Cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes then transfer each packet to an individual serving plate.
