Ho Hum Chicken Noodle Stew

Kind of boring, but then again everyone liked it and it was fast and healthy.

In a touch of olive oil, I sauteed onion, celery, and lots of chunky carrots. When they were almost soft, I added some chicken tenders, cut crosswise into chunks. I stirred and cooked this mixture for a few minutes, seasoned it with salt and Penzeys poultry seasoning, then added probably 2 cups of chicken broth and brought to simmer. In went some leftover corn kernels, some fresh green beans, and some thick egg noodles (dried). Slapped a lid on and simmered for 15 minutes or so, 'til the noodles were cooked, and called it dinner.

Chicken tenders are like breast meat, they are from the breast, but they don't seem to me to get that awful texture if they are overcooked- so they're good in dishes like this one that need a little flexibility or are not going to be served right away. I didn't bother to figure out the calories in this- as long as you don't overdo the noodles, it's pretty low. Eat up.

An awesome snack

Greek yogurt with homemade peach sauce and a sprinkle of toasted almonds.

If you've been eating any kind of "lite" yogurt you may want to give Fage Greek 2% a try. I love it topped with fresh fruit or homemade jam, fruit coulis or sauce, and then a touch of nuts or granola (or pulverized granola bar), for textural interest. The peach sauce I made because I had, sadly, about 5 extremely disappointing peaches in the bowl. I simply could not gag them down raw. I just peeled, sliced, and cooked them up with a very small amount of sugar (like 2T fro 5 peaches) and a bit of water to keep them from burning in the beginning.

Fage 2% yogurt has this creamy, lucious texture and light flavor. It's a lot thicker than most commercial yogurts, and any "lite" ones especially. When you put fruit on, it will have more calories than some nasty artificially flavored junk, but it tastes a hell of a lot better and is better for you. And fills you up, too. Get this: a 6 oz serving has 103 calories and about 14 g protein. That's twice the protein of Dannon All Natural Vanilla (kids choice around here). So with the fruit and stuff, like the photo, it's going to run about 175 cals. Ditch the nuts and you can knock it down to 150 (only 60 more than the type that's full of chemicals and leaves you unsatisfied).

Available at some Sendiks and Trader Joes.

Ma Po Tofu

I should probably preface this entry by admitting that I am the only one in the family that will eat this. I love it! It's on almost every Chinese Food menu, a comfort food dish of tofu simmered with a small amount of meat, seasonings, and broth.

I browned 2 oz of ground beef, breaking it up in the pan. Then added 1 shredded carrot, 3 sliced scallions, 2 cloves of minced garlic and the same amount of ginger. When the carrots were cooked through- just a few minutes- I added about 1T soy sauce, 1t oyster sauce, and 2 t black bean sauce, and half a can of chicken broth. After bringing it to a boil and thickening it with a cornstarch broth slurry, I added 12 oz extra firm tofu and maybe 2t sesame oil. Once it's hot it's done. This would serve 2 adults and 2 kids (if they would eat it!). I guess you have to like tofu.

Over a whole grain rice, rye, and barley pilaf with plain broccoli on the side, this plate was about 325 calories and very satisfying.

Two Veggie Pitas

Grilled eggplant....salad? and Hummus.

Eaten with sauteed zucchini, roasted peppers, tomato, lettuce, and whole wheat pitas.

I had previously grilled an eggplant, and I wanted to use it. You just throw the whole thing on a cooler area of the grill until it's collapsed, turning from time to time. Then, when it's cool, you slit it open and scrape the flesh away, leaving behind as much liquid and seeds as possible. It gives the eggplant a great smoky flavor. Often I do this with the plan to make baba ghannouj, but that has a bit too much fat for my current situation, so I improvised a sort of salad with diced tomato, scallions and garlic cooked in a touch of olive oil, lemon, cumin, cilantro and parsley. It was pretty good, if very austere tasting. I miss gratuitous fat! A couple tablespoons of olive oil and the salad would have been sublime.

The rest of the meal is old hat but I still love homemade hummus with vegetables in pita. The bread and hummus were the only things with any significant calories- two pita halves, one with the eggplant and the other with hummus and vegetables weighed in at 335 cals.

Very veggie turkey chili

Ingredients: Home ground turkey thigh, onions, carrot, celery, orange bell pepper, ground fresh tomatoes, Penzey's chili powder, garlic, chicken broth, black beans, corn, and a diced sweet potato. Calorie count: 300 for a big bowl. Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

I have a hard time with cutting out the refined carbs and still filling up myself and my active family. Starchy vegetables like corn and sweet potatoes do the trick. Sweet potatoes are actually a really good fit with southwestern flavors- try chipotle with them in your favorite recipe (unless it has marshmallows in it!). Plus beans are filling and protein rich. I topped my serving with a squeeze of lime and some diced avocado- the non dieters also had cheese and oyster crackers.

Day 2

Did anybody else see the adorable medium sized colored peppers for sale? Of course I had to have them, but then what? The perfect thing would be to stuff them with Bacalao or a rich goat cheese and sizzle them with a little garlic and olive oil. Mmmm. But, this is a family dinner, so...

Stuffed peppers again. I roasted and peeled the peppers first- I figure if we're going for a high pepper to filling ratio, the peppers had better be tasty. I used a NY strip steak with all the fat cut away, then ground it. I also ground the leftover chard and some grilled Vidalia onions in there from the other night, to up the veg content. Some cooked rice and seasonings, a little watery tomato sauce, and they were good to go.
This photo was raw- I was out of the house at dinnertime. Each pepper had about 100 calories- I ate 3. The peppers have a lot of pectin so they have an almost oily, unctuous mouthfeel that is pretty satisfying.

Time to get serious

I'm sick of always whining about that damn 10 lbs and never actually making the effort to shed it. I mean, I've been here before, I know what to do....so this blog is having a rebirth as my accountability. Day 1: grilled salmon, garlic sauteed rainbow chard, corn, grilled sweet potato (just slice it about 1/3 inch and cook them over indirect heat about 10 minutes). This meal was about 420 cals including the little vidalia- cherry coulis and the butter on the corn.

I like to cut salmon like this: into a thick slice of filet, then sliced down to the skin and folded back to make like a "mock steak" but without the bones.

I threw some extras on the grill, too. A large eggplant, just whole, some baby orange peppers, and some thick sliced Vidalia onion. It's always helpful to have some grilled veggies in the fridge, right?