Sorry about the delay in the postings, is it ok to blame daylight savings? This will be a two-fer, dinner for Saturday and then Sunday.
Saturday- Tilapia Tacos
Ingredients:
1 lb tilapia filets
1 pkg. taco seasoning (we used old el paso)
1 head iceberg lettuce, with the leaves carefully separated w/out tearing them
fresh salsa
low-fat sour cream
alfalfa sprouts
Cut the tilapia into 1-inch cubes and place in a non-stick saucepan on medium heat. Cook until fish is opaque and beginning to flake apart. Then, add the package of taco seasoning and 2/3 cup water. Cook until most of the water is evaporated (approx. 10 mins). Allow the tilapia to cool down to a lukewarm temperature.
Then, it's time to assemble the tacos! Take a leaf of iceberg lettuce (the largish ones work the best for this) and spoon some of the fish into the middle. Top with fresh salsa, a spoonful of sour cream, and sprouts. Carefully roll the lettuce around the filling, burrito-style, and enjoy!
Calorie Breakdown:
1/2 lb tilapia : 216 cals
1/2 package taco seasoning : 40 cals
4 tablespoons low-fat sour cream: 80 cals
4 ounces fresh salsa : 25 cals
3 large leaves iceberg lettuce: 10 cals
total: 371 cals
===========================
Sunday- Italian Seafood Stew
ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium celery stalks, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can no salt added stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 small sweet potato, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 pound tilapia cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 pound peeled and deveined raw medium shrimp
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic and cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, water, bouillon, beans and sweet potato and heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 15 minutes, adding water if consistency becomes too thick. Stir in fish and shrimp and heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Calorie Breakdown:
oil: 240 cals
carrots: 60 cals
celery: 20 cals
onion: 60 cals
garlic: 20 cals
veggie bouillon: 15 cals
sweet potato: 115 cals
1/2 lb tilapia: 216 cals
1/4 pound shrimp: 120 cals
15 oz. cannellini beans : 300 cals
cals for entire pot: 1166
pot makes 4 servings, so 291.5 cals per serving!
Note- this stew was insanely delicious! The original recipe called for a regular potato, which was substituted in this recipe for a sweet potato since it has more flavor and added vitamins. The flavor was reminiscent of a "brunswick stew", if a brunswick stew could be made with seafood. This is a very hearty, low-fat comfort food that's perfect for cold weather.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Fondue-le vous mangez avec moi, c'est soir?
Dinner for March 9th, 2007- supersounds of the 70's retro flashback time!
Wanting to get some use out of the fondue set my mother gave me for Christmas, I figured it would make an interesting Friday-night romantic date meal. The challenge? How to do a low fat, low cal fondue that's still fun and tasty. Solution? Fondue "bourguignonne" style, which means that the little pieces of food are cooked in hot broth instead of dipper in molten cheese. Tasty and much, much easier on the waistline.
Fondue:
The fondue cooking broth is made of 1 large container of organic vegetable broth, 1/2 cup sliced onions, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, 2 bay leaves, and a palmful of an exotic spice rub I picked up at the Fairway called "Bed Of Roses Heavenly Bouquet". It's mainly garlic, sea salt, saffron threads, paprika, chile peppers and rose petals. If you don't have a funky spice blend in the back of your cabinet just dying for this kind of opportunity, this is a great time to pull out all of those weird spices you never use (curry powder, chinese five-spice powder, cardamom, ancho chiles, etc) and drop them in the broth. This will give you great, unique flavoring for your fondue without adding extra fat or calories.
I let the broth simmer for about half an hour, until flavors had married and the kitchen smelled amazing. Add a little water if your broth seems to be evaporating, ideally you want to have about three cups of as much concentrated flavor as possible.
Fondue Fixins:
1/2 lb pork loin, cut into small disks
1/2 lb tuna steak, cut into bite-size pieces
1 - 2 cups shitake and baby bella mushrooms
1 -2 cups squash and zucchini, sliced into thin disks
The meat was treated to two different marinades early in the morning. Separating the meat into small portions, each given their own marinade, can add some fun variety to the meal as well as really kick up the flavor. I divided the meats into three separate portions for three different flavors. If you're anything like me, you also have a bunch of bottles of funny dressings or marinades that have been gifted to you or picked up on a whim-once again, this is a great opportunity to pull those out! One potion was marinaded in some of the sczhezuan low-cal stir-fry sauce I bought for a meal later in the week. The next was rolled in the same spice rub mentioned above (thickly crusted). Finally, the last portion was left to soak in Carolina Treet BBQ-sauce.
With your broth prepared, veggies chopped and meat soaked, all that's left to do is assemble the fondue kit and get your broth bubbling! Usually, the veggies will need to cook in the broth for 5-7 minutes to get the full flavor benefit. I suggest doing a "test piece" of meat first, to time how long the cooking process for each piece will take (there's nothing worse than biting in to a piece of undercooked pork!). Don't worry if pieces fall off, since you can always retrieve them later and they'll both make the broth tastier and be delicious once fished out!
Calorie Countdown:
Cals from Broth: Negligible
1 cup mushrooms: 15 cals
1 cup squash/zucchini: 20 cals
1/4 lb pork loin: 188 cals
1/4 lb tuna steak: 124 cals
1 tbps Schezuan sauce: 25 cals
2 tbsp Spice Rub: negligible
2 tbsp Carolina Treet : 40 cals
grand total: 412 calories
Wanting to get some use out of the fondue set my mother gave me for Christmas, I figured it would make an interesting Friday-night romantic date meal. The challenge? How to do a low fat, low cal fondue that's still fun and tasty. Solution? Fondue "bourguignonne" style, which means that the little pieces of food are cooked in hot broth instead of dipper in molten cheese. Tasty and much, much easier on the waistline.
Fondue:
The fondue cooking broth is made of 1 large container of organic vegetable broth, 1/2 cup sliced onions, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, 2 bay leaves, and a palmful of an exotic spice rub I picked up at the Fairway called "Bed Of Roses Heavenly Bouquet". It's mainly garlic, sea salt, saffron threads, paprika, chile peppers and rose petals. If you don't have a funky spice blend in the back of your cabinet just dying for this kind of opportunity, this is a great time to pull out all of those weird spices you never use (curry powder, chinese five-spice powder, cardamom, ancho chiles, etc) and drop them in the broth. This will give you great, unique flavoring for your fondue without adding extra fat or calories.
I let the broth simmer for about half an hour, until flavors had married and the kitchen smelled amazing. Add a little water if your broth seems to be evaporating, ideally you want to have about three cups of as much concentrated flavor as possible.
Fondue Fixins:
1/2 lb pork loin, cut into small disks
1/2 lb tuna steak, cut into bite-size pieces
1 - 2 cups shitake and baby bella mushrooms
1 -2 cups squash and zucchini, sliced into thin disks
The meat was treated to two different marinades early in the morning. Separating the meat into small portions, each given their own marinade, can add some fun variety to the meal as well as really kick up the flavor. I divided the meats into three separate portions for three different flavors. If you're anything like me, you also have a bunch of bottles of funny dressings or marinades that have been gifted to you or picked up on a whim-once again, this is a great opportunity to pull those out! One potion was marinaded in some of the sczhezuan low-cal stir-fry sauce I bought for a meal later in the week. The next was rolled in the same spice rub mentioned above (thickly crusted). Finally, the last portion was left to soak in Carolina Treet BBQ-sauce.
With your broth prepared, veggies chopped and meat soaked, all that's left to do is assemble the fondue kit and get your broth bubbling! Usually, the veggies will need to cook in the broth for 5-7 minutes to get the full flavor benefit. I suggest doing a "test piece" of meat first, to time how long the cooking process for each piece will take (there's nothing worse than biting in to a piece of undercooked pork!). Don't worry if pieces fall off, since you can always retrieve them later and they'll both make the broth tastier and be delicious once fished out!
Calorie Countdown:
Cals from Broth: Negligible
1 cup mushrooms: 15 cals
1 cup squash/zucchini: 20 cals
1/4 lb pork loin: 188 cals
1/4 lb tuna steak: 124 cals
1 tbps Schezuan sauce: 25 cals
2 tbsp Spice Rub: negligible
2 tbsp Carolina Treet : 40 cals
grand total: 412 calories
Thursday, March 8, 2007
1st Dinner
Justin: 12 oz top sirloin, 1/2 package frozen asparagus
Julia: 1/2 lb (2 links) seafood sausage, 1/2 package frozen asparagus
Preparation:
Steak: Heat 1/2 tablespoon grapeseed oil in cast iron pan. Add 1 tablespoon garlic and cook on medium heat until garlic is slightly sizzling. Add steak, cook through on both sides until medium-rare, turning halfway through cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
Seafood Sausage: In a deep saucepan, combine 3 cups of water, 1 1/2 vegetable bouillon cubes, 1 bay leaf, 2 tablespoons garlic, handful of chopped white onion, 2 tablespoons old bay seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil on high heat for about 5 minutes to allow flavor to infuse the broth. Add sausage and cover, turning sausages every few minutes for 10 minutes. Eat with a few tablespoons of spicy dijon mustard.
Asparagus : Microwave frozen asparagus spears uncovered for 5 minutes. After microwaving, toss the spears with 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Lay the asparagus in a baking pan and broil in the oven on high heat for approx. 8-10 mins. Remove from oven and garnish with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Calorie Breakdown:
Julia:
Seafood Sausage: 250 cals
Broth Cals; Negligible
1 oz. dijon mustard: 28 cals
1/2 package asparagus, prepared as above: 105 cals
total: 383 cals
Justin:
Steak, as prepared above: 494
Asparagus: 105 cals
total: 599 calories
Tastiness:
Seafood sausage was surprisingly awesome. This was adapted from my mothers beer-boiled brats recipe, but since I had no beer in the house to boil the sausages in I improvised a savory cooking broth. The asparagus was inspired from last week's 'coupon clipper' recipe on Gothamist.com, and the roasting made the asparagus smoky, firm, and pleasingly crunchy. Justin's steak came out smelling rich and garlicky, and was nicely browned on both sides. The steak was a little bit of a splurge, but since the week seems pretty nutritionally balanced over the week I think it'll be ok. So far, we're eating high-protein, veggie-focused meals without feeling even slightly deprived.
Julia: 1/2 lb (2 links) seafood sausage, 1/2 package frozen asparagus
Preparation:
Steak: Heat 1/2 tablespoon grapeseed oil in cast iron pan. Add 1 tablespoon garlic and cook on medium heat until garlic is slightly sizzling. Add steak, cook through on both sides until medium-rare, turning halfway through cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
Seafood Sausage: In a deep saucepan, combine 3 cups of water, 1 1/2 vegetable bouillon cubes, 1 bay leaf, 2 tablespoons garlic, handful of chopped white onion, 2 tablespoons old bay seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil on high heat for about 5 minutes to allow flavor to infuse the broth. Add sausage and cover, turning sausages every few minutes for 10 minutes. Eat with a few tablespoons of spicy dijon mustard.
Asparagus : Microwave frozen asparagus spears uncovered for 5 minutes. After microwaving, toss the spears with 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Lay the asparagus in a baking pan and broil in the oven on high heat for approx. 8-10 mins. Remove from oven and garnish with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Calorie Breakdown:
Julia:
Seafood Sausage: 250 cals
Broth Cals; Negligible
1 oz. dijon mustard: 28 cals
1/2 package asparagus, prepared as above: 105 cals
total: 383 cals
Justin:
Steak, as prepared above: 494
Asparagus: 105 cals
total: 599 calories
Tastiness:
Seafood sausage was surprisingly awesome. This was adapted from my mothers beer-boiled brats recipe, but since I had no beer in the house to boil the sausages in I improvised a savory cooking broth. The asparagus was inspired from last week's 'coupon clipper' recipe on Gothamist.com, and the roasting made the asparagus smoky, firm, and pleasingly crunchy. Justin's steak came out smelling rich and garlicky, and was nicely browned on both sides. The steak was a little bit of a splurge, but since the week seems pretty nutritionally balanced over the week I think it'll be ok. So far, we're eating high-protein, veggie-focused meals without feeling even slightly deprived.
First Grocery list!
Week 1 Grocery List:
1 dozen free-range eggs, 24 oz 2% cottage cheese, 3 yogurt cups, tofu pups, 1 1/2 lb shrimp, 1 1/2 lb small filet tilapia, mixed fish for salad, 1/2 lb seafood sausage, meat for 1 steak dinner, sugarfree jello, 2 lbs green grapes, 1 pint strawberries, 1 head iceberg lettuce, mixed salad greens, 1 pkg mushrooms, 2 small zucchini, small squash, cucumber, 2 medium carrots, celery, 1 large onion, small sweet potato, frozen asparagus, 1 bag stir-fry veggies, 2 cans soup, large container veggie broth, soy sauce, 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes, veggie bouillon, 15 oz can great northern beans, low-cal sauce for stir-frying, taco seasoning, 1 box lipton teabags
total cost: $117.24 from the Harlem Fairway Market
Breakdown:
Fruit, yogurt, eggs (for hard-boiling) and cottage cheese for breakfast
tofu pups, salad and soup for lunch
all other items for this weeks dinner recipes!
1 dozen free-range eggs, 24 oz 2% cottage cheese, 3 yogurt cups, tofu pups, 1 1/2 lb shrimp, 1 1/2 lb small filet tilapia, mixed fish for salad, 1/2 lb seafood sausage, meat for 1 steak dinner, sugarfree jello, 2 lbs green grapes, 1 pint strawberries, 1 head iceberg lettuce, mixed salad greens, 1 pkg mushrooms, 2 small zucchini, small squash, cucumber, 2 medium carrots, celery, 1 large onion, small sweet potato, frozen asparagus, 1 bag stir-fry veggies, 2 cans soup, large container veggie broth, soy sauce, 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes, veggie bouillon, 15 oz can great northern beans, low-cal sauce for stir-frying, taco seasoning, 1 box lipton teabags
total cost: $117.24 from the Harlem Fairway Market
Breakdown:
Fruit, yogurt, eggs (for hard-boiling) and cottage cheese for breakfast
tofu pups, salad and soup for lunch
all other items for this weeks dinner recipes!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
A little background before we begin...
I met Justin a few days before my 21st birthday in Alamance county, North Carolina, in January 2003. On our first date, we went to a Steak n' Shake. On our first romantic date, we went to an upscale seafood restaurant and ordered lobster, sauteed in butter and beer, with fried okra on the side. What can I say? We were young and in love, and love makes you do crazy, artery-clogging things. We continued our whirlwind romance by randomly deciding to drive from NC to New Orleans a few weeks later for mardi gras. Four days of gumbo, fried oysters, pizza with shrimp and feta (mmmm both stinky and savory...amazingly delicious), etouffee and booze, booze, booze.
This began a wonderful relationship filled with cooking and good times. Justin is blessed (and cursed) with a world-class frying ability. The man could fry a AA battery and make it taste delicious. However, his specialty is seafood, specifically shrimp, tilapia, scallops, or whatever the local seafood counter had on sale. We both also became huge aficionados for Cajun cooking, embracing the 'kick it up a notch' philosophy of adding some more butter, more garlic, more bourbon, anything to make a dish bigger and better. Unfortunately, after several years of perfecting this specific art, our weekly grocery lists began to seem positively Caligulean in their excess.
After finishing college, Justin got offered an an amazing job in Manhattan. Figuring that this was our big break, we both packed up and headed to the big city to a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. While neither disgustingly fat nor hideously out of shape, we both realized that we had a lot more...er...girth than your average New Yorker. So, when this office contest came up, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to end our bad habits, drop some pounds, and fit into New York society (as well as our subway seats). Neither of us has a gym membership, a nutritionist, or any serious medical problems. We, like millions of other Americans, are just two normal people who would like to look better naked. So, using common household ingredients and half an hour of daily excercise (that can be undertaken without any guidance or expensive equipment) we hope to cut a swath through fad diets, misinformation about 'healthy eating', and our own laziness.
This began a wonderful relationship filled with cooking and good times. Justin is blessed (and cursed) with a world-class frying ability. The man could fry a AA battery and make it taste delicious. However, his specialty is seafood, specifically shrimp, tilapia, scallops, or whatever the local seafood counter had on sale. We both also became huge aficionados for Cajun cooking, embracing the 'kick it up a notch' philosophy of adding some more butter, more garlic, more bourbon, anything to make a dish bigger and better. Unfortunately, after several years of perfecting this specific art, our weekly grocery lists began to seem positively Caligulean in their excess.
After finishing college, Justin got offered an an amazing job in Manhattan. Figuring that this was our big break, we both packed up and headed to the big city to a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. While neither disgustingly fat nor hideously out of shape, we both realized that we had a lot more...er...girth than your average New Yorker. So, when this office contest came up, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to end our bad habits, drop some pounds, and fit into New York society (as well as our subway seats). Neither of us has a gym membership, a nutritionist, or any serious medical problems. We, like millions of other Americans, are just two normal people who would like to look better naked. So, using common household ingredients and half an hour of daily excercise (that can be undertaken without any guidance or expensive equipment) we hope to cut a swath through fad diets, misinformation about 'healthy eating', and our own laziness.
The Bet
The Bet : My 278-lb, 5'11" boyfriend Justin has entered into an office contest to see who can lose the most weight by June 28th.
The Prize : $700.00, cash
My Role : Since Justin didn't have my benefit of being raised with typical suburbanite health-obsessed parents, he's given it to me to try to create a diet from scratch. Keep in mind, I have no formal training, am pretty chunky myself, and have drawn most of my nutritional knowledge from this NY magazine article.
The Plan : Every week, I'm going to create a menu of high-protein, low-fat and low-calorie meals. I'll make a grocery list for 7 breakfasts, lunches and dinners and head down to the Fairway Market on my block. I'll then post what we ACTUALLY got from the market (since it can be touch-and-go getting everything on the list). During the week, I'll post the recipes, nutritional content (as well as I can hamfistedly calculate it with the help of my friend Calorieking) and the overall tastiness of the results. I'll also be tracking our weight-loss progress to see if we're getting anywhere.
The bigger picture : It's common knowledge that, to lose weight, you should "put down the fork, fatass!". However, in a society that sells 'monster thickburgers' and advertises KFC as a "healthy option", it's not as easy as it sounds to know what to eat. A Google search for "low calorie meals" brings up a lot of single-dish suggestions (hey, that's not a meal and I don't care who you are) with no nutritional info attached to back up the claim. We're going to try, without doing any branded diet (Atkins, South Beach, the Lemonade Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet...ugh) to lose weight using common sense and some online tools. By logging the recipes and nutritional info, I'm hoping that anyone can use this as a guide to try their own personal diet exploration.
The Prize : $700.00, cash
My Role : Since Justin didn't have my benefit of being raised with typical suburbanite health-obsessed parents, he's given it to me to try to create a diet from scratch. Keep in mind, I have no formal training, am pretty chunky myself, and have drawn most of my nutritional knowledge from this NY magazine article.
The Plan : Every week, I'm going to create a menu of high-protein, low-fat and low-calorie meals. I'll make a grocery list for 7 breakfasts, lunches and dinners and head down to the Fairway Market on my block. I'll then post what we ACTUALLY got from the market (since it can be touch-and-go getting everything on the list). During the week, I'll post the recipes, nutritional content (as well as I can hamfistedly calculate it with the help of my friend Calorieking) and the overall tastiness of the results. I'll also be tracking our weight-loss progress to see if we're getting anywhere.
The bigger picture : It's common knowledge that, to lose weight, you should "put down the fork, fatass!". However, in a society that sells 'monster thickburgers' and advertises KFC as a "healthy option", it's not as easy as it sounds to know what to eat. A Google search for "low calorie meals" brings up a lot of single-dish suggestions (hey, that's not a meal and I don't care who you are) with no nutritional info attached to back up the claim. We're going to try, without doing any branded diet (Atkins, South Beach, the Lemonade Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet...ugh) to lose weight using common sense and some online tools. By logging the recipes and nutritional info, I'm hoping that anyone can use this as a guide to try their own personal diet exploration.
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