Five Spice Turkey and Lettuce Wraps

I was really excited about this one. I really was. This was our first really disappointing meal.

There were several things we didn’t like about this one and we made very few changes to it. We couldn’t find fresh mint or cilantro at the grocery store on shopping day so just didn’t use them.

First, and probably the most obvious, was that it was completely over powered by the ginger. I like a little bit of ginger flavor in my Chinese food, but this was waaaayyy too much! It also had a strange flavor from the five spice powder. It was like there was too much spice and not enough actual taste. It struck me as amazing that something this strong could be a bit tasteless. The Boston Lettuce was not nearly as structurally sound as the picture led me to believe either. We not only didn’t like the taste, but it didn’t fill us up either. This was advertised as a lunch meal, not an appetizer.

It was, however, easy enough to make and did make enough for two servings of leftovers the next day (Lucky us, we got to eat it twice.) 

And we hated it so much, we forgot to take a picture. (sorry)

Overall Rating:

Number of calories: 285/serving

Will I "Make Again"?: No

Tastiness?: 1/5

Fills my tummy?: 1/5

Eating Out

Cora and I went to the Toronto FanExpo this weekend and hoped it would result in this amazing post about choosing low-calorie foods while on vacation. Having now done the vacation part, I have one thing to say on the matter: Eating out while on a diet sucks!

We had several factors working against us on this. One being that we were at an event that ran all day so we didn't get dinner until roughly around 9 or 10 in the evening. We packed sandwiches and apples for the day, but cheated by getting hotdogs one day because we were sick of peanut butter and jam. (And because the hotdogs were the cheapest things to eat there.) When we did go out, we were generally starving and exhausted. The menus didn't come with convenient calorie information and our online calorie counter didn't have the restaurants in it's database.

Having only done this diet for three weeks, I didn't feel confident enough to make decisions on what looked lower calorie than other things. I knew the obvious - pasta bad, salad good - but what about stone oven pizza? What about a Reuben on rye? I tried not to feel guilty for my choices, and I did walk a hell of a lot! I guess the scale will tell me how I did in the end and I'll just have to learn for next time.

That being said, we had a great time and as promised, here are some pictures of us in strange costumes...

Overall Rating of Eating Out:

Tastiness: 4/5
Fills My Tummy: 4/5
Convenience: 5/5
Stuck to my diet: NO!!

Weight Watchers Cola Chicken

Only four ingredients...I’m in!! This was by far the easiest recipe I have found so far, and my first attempt at a Weight Watchers recipe as well. Now, this particular site does not have the most accurate calorie count but I’m assuming that 4-6 points is roughly the amount I’m looking for in a really low calorie meal.

http://www.food.com/recipe/weight-watchers-4pt-cola-chicken-219157

Not only is this super easy to make, but it’s also really really really good! Last weekend I went up to visit Cora Ling and we made this dish together, (her for the first time, me for the second.) We paired it with cauliflower and a side of ham and pea pasta salad.

The first time I made it, I was really surprised at how great it smelled and tasted because it was so easy. I was concerned that boiling the chicken in the liquid mixture for so long would make it dry, but it was fall apart moist. And I cannot emphasize enough how easy it is to make! I even told my Mom about it.

In other news, this diet is totally paying off. I’m down to 141lbs. and feeling great. Never has a weight loss method worked so well for me in the past. I’ve struggled with taking off the pounds for years. I’ve joined gyms, done workout programs from home, tried fad diets, and nothing worked. I don’t know how I never tried this method before. It’s amazing!

Anyways, Cora Ling and I are off to FanExpo in Toronto tomorrow so we won’t be posting for the weekend. But as soon as we get back, be prepared for more yummy food and lots of geeky pictures of us in costumes...

Overall Rating:

Number of calories: 193/serving

Will I "Make Again"?:  Yes and I did!

Tastiness?: 5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4.5/5

Flemish Beef Stew

Mmmmm....stew. Nothin' is better on a cool day than a nice warm bowl of meat in gravy.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/flemish_beef_stew.html

This recipe was AMAZING! It was really easy to do (even when I can't read things properly and added a bit of the ale into the beef while browning...oops!) and because it stayed in the Crockpot all day, it made the house smell fantastic. I was a bit worried at first at how filling this would be because it doesn't have any potatoes in it (which I am used to having in a stew) but it was filling enough not only for me, but for my husband as well. And not only that, but I got the "manly seal of approval"" for this one! I have enough left over in the fridge for one more meal out of the stew, but this recipe is most definitely going to find its way back into my Crockpot!

Overall Rating:
Number of Calories: 272/serving (makes 4)

Will I "Make Again"? YES!

Tastiness? 5/5

Filling? 5/5

Vegetable Lover's Chicken Soup

As much as I feared salad only dinners, soup only dinners have always been a staple for us. The only difference is that now we are making soup from scratch instead of just opening a can...

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/vegetable_lovers_chicken_soup.html

This soup is delicious and easy! I used an 8oz. breast instead of the tenders, but that was really the only substitution I had to make. It was the perfect amount for two with a piece of fresh baked multigrain bread on the side and it filled us up as well for a decent amount of time. And who would have thought to put wine into it? I think that's what really gave it the flavor that we liked most. In fact, we liked this soup so much, that my husband made it a second time for himself when I was away for the weekend.

Overall rating:

Number of calories: 261/serving

Will I "Make Again"?: Already did!

Tastiness?: 5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4/5

Peas and Ham Pasta Salad

The summer is a great time of year for food, and nothing works better for a lunch or side dish as a pasta salad. However, pasta is not known for being low in calories; add some cheese and mayo, and watch out waist line! After doing a bit of digging, I found a couple pasta salad recipes that look rather good, so lets try the first one:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/ham_pasta_salad.html

Now my husband and I are on the opposite sides of the pasta salad debate; I am more of an "oil and vinegar" salad person, where he likes his salads with some creaminess to them. So when I gave him the choice of the two pasta salad recipes that I had found, it was not surprising that he chose this one.

All pasta salads take a bunch of prep I have found, as it is a whole lot of chopping. This one however went rather quickly as I used my electric chopper for pretty much everything. I was surprised at how little ham and cheese there was compared to how many mushrooms we added, but overall it seemed to come together rather nicely. The dressing was a complete surprise for me, because even though it used mayonnaise, it was very light and refreshing, and it complimented the salad ingredients well.

The recipe says that this salad makes "6 servings". I say HA! to that one. With everything added in, it looked a lot more like 8-10 servings! For three people, we had it twice as a main meal (for lunch) and as a side dish once, and yet I still had enough for at least one more meal out of it!!

This pasta salad was good and it was filling (which was nice), but it made way too much for only two people. One of the main problems that I have with foods sometimes, is that halfway through eating it, I get bored of it. Unfortunately that was the case with this salad. It was good, but I would only have it as a side dish with something else. I may try cubing the cheese and ham next time to see if that makes a big difference in the taste. I also may add a bit more garlic, as well as some lemon (it just seemed like it could use that).

Overall rating:

Number of calories: 315/serving

Will I "Make Again"?: Maybe but with some slight changes

Tastiness?: 2.5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4/5

Quick Chicken Cordon Blue for Two

Let me preface this post by first saying that my husband and I had just woken up from a nap, were both a bit groggy and both hangry (angry because you are hungry) when we started making this dish. My husband also has ADD and when he is tired, sleepy and out of it, he has the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimers. Thus, we dubbed this meal, "Divorce Chicken".

*CAUTION: Do not make with your spouse if you are tired, hangry, or cranky!*

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/quick_chicken_cordon_bleu_for_2.html

Now, the recipe itself is not that difficult. We learned that chicken breasts that we buy at the grocery store are much larger than most Eating Well recipes call for, (our average being about 8-9oz and the recipe calling for 5-6oz with the tenders removed.) We decided to just make the larger chicken breasts with the original amount of topping and just add the extra chicken later to our calorie count. We also learned that I, apparently, can't read when I've just woken up.

See, the recipe calls for 1/2oz. of chopped ham. I did not see the slash and went ahead and chopped 12oz. of ham. You should have seen me. This dieting thing has been really getting under my skin psychologically and although I know I'm generally not hungry, knowing that I'm dieting has me feeling starved and cranky all the time. When I chopped up all the ham I was practically dancing across the floor in with glee thinking, "Ham is free!! No calories in ham!!" (I call this lapse in logical thinking, "dieting brain" where something that is very obviously not true, seems true, because your brain will only allow you to see what you want it to instead of the grim reality that 12oz of ham is, in fact, high in calories.) So, I bring my hubbers the giant bowl of ham and he looks at it, then back at the cooking chicken, then back at the bowl. He has this look that says, "How am I supposed to use all this ham? If I sprinkle it on top of the chicken, it will bury the chicken." That's when logic kicked back in and I went back to check the original recipe. *oopsy...*

Another tip: let your cream cheese warm a bit before using. If it's room temperature, it will be easier to spread.

This recipe was delicious. Just as advertised, it tasted damn close to the original thing. This will definitely be made again, although maybe when I am much more alert.

Also, we made it with purple cauliflower, not dyed cauliflower.

Overall rating:

Number of Calories: 280 (as the original) 333 (with the extra large breasts)

Will I "Make Again"?: Absolutely!!

Tastiness?: 5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4/5

I know we’ve already posted our recipe reviews for today but I just had to come back and post once more because I had an adventure.

 Today my husband and I decided to go for a walk in the woods. There’s this lovely park a very short drive from our place that has some gorgeous trails. Before we went though, we stopped to buy these shoes I’ve been thinking about getting for a while (little black Sketchers from Penningtons). I put them on right away for the walk, complete with new socks too.

Having these new shoes actually gave me more motivation to push myself on this walk today as well. Like I’ve said before, I’m a big girl and I’m really out of shape. A twenty minute walk at a moderate pace is usually enough for me to be hoofin’ and poofin’ when I’m done and I’ve never really been motivated to push past that before. So, today I really pushed myself to go faster and steadier and longer than in the past.

We had been walking the trail now for about twenty five minutes, going up and down small hills the whole time and I figured this was a good half way point and an acceptable time to start heading back to our car. But the more we walked the path that we thought was the way back, the farther we seemed to be getting from the starting point. This was when we decided to cut through the woods and go off trail.

Now, I need to pause here to give you lovely readers a piece of, what I think, is a very valuable piece of advice. NEVER GO OFF TRAIL! For those of you who are the outdoor type and often go hiking in the woods, this may seem silly to you, but for my husband and myself, whose idea of roughing it is going anywhere without our memory foam pillows, this was a very valuable lesson.

Whereas the trails were well maintained and dry, the woods were mucky and filled with roots. I stepped into a particular piece of muck and lost both of my brand new shoes. We had to actually dig them out while I was standing there in my sopping wet socks. When we got them back I didn’t want to put them back on because I didn’t want to muddy up the still relatively clean insides but my hubby refused to let me go on bare foot. So, I put them back on and slogged through more muck just to lose them again. Another round of digging and five more minutes slogging and we finally found our way back to the trail. We stopped near the end at a shallow little stream and tried to wash the majority of the mud and slime off. I was covered in gunk from my feet to my knees and splattered up my arms and legs. The water was freezing too. Oh, and did I mention that this is my fourth anniversary? How romantic!

We made it home in one piece in the end, muddy and gross; showers the first thing on our mind. Despite getting super dirty (and not in the fourth anniversary way) we did really enjoy the walk. We plan to go back at least once a week until the weather gets too bad. For now though, I am happy to report that I weighed in this evening and am down 6lbs. from my original weight.

Thai Chicken

I enjoy how so many different pre-made saucescome with recipes for interesting dinners, and since I had some Diana Honey Garlic sauce in the house, I thought I would try one of hers.
 
http://www.dianasauce.ca/recipe_display.asp?ID=291

One of the things that I enjoyed about living in Guangzhou was all of the different types of food we could get. I enjoy Thai food but have tried making vary little myself, so I thought I would give this a try. I changed up most of the veggies simply because I had zucchini and baby potatoes already in the house that needed to be used. And again I used Tabasco as my hot sauce. I also cut the recipe into thirds as there was only the two of us eating, and didnt need to have 6 pieces of chicken!

Overall this was easy to make and tasted really good! The sauce gave the chicken a really nice flavour, and it was even yummier on the veggies.  The chicken was tender and the potatoes helped to make this a nicely filling meal. The only downside was that I needed to use a frying pan (as I dont have a grill) and the sauce made a bit of a mess that took some soaking to clean afterwards, but the whole meal was definitely worth it! My husband enjoyed it, but as he is not a huge fan of peanut sauce, I probably wouldnt make it again if he was eating with me. However for myself or for guests, this is a definite yes!

Overall rating:

Number of calories: approx. 306/serving

Will I "Make Again"?: Yes! (Just not when the hubby is at home)

Tastiness?: 4.5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4.5/5

Chicken and White Bean Salad

All my fears have come true and I'm eating a salad, and nothing but, for dinner.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/chicken_white_bean_salad.html

This salad is filled with stuff so I was hoping for the best. I substituted cannellini beans for white kidney beans (because my grocery store didn't have cannellini beans.) I also used a spring mix for the salad, fresh tomatoes for the sun dried tomatoes (hate those) and honey Dijon mustard instead of plain Dijon mustard (I had it already and didn't want to add yet another item to my already immense shopping list.) I also oopsed and bought light ricotta cheese which was definitely not a solid. So, mistakes and substitutes aside, I went forth and made a salad for dinner.

It was good, as in tasty, but a girl can only eat so much salad. And it wasn't nearly as filling as I had hoped.
Again, this made four servings so it was lunch again the next day. I couldn't finish it the second time, not because I was full, but because I was saladed out. The dressing was amazing though!

On a side note: light ricotta cheese is awesome! I used to eat it as a child and had no idea it was super-duper low in calories. It's kinda like an Italian cottage cheese and good with fruit so I had a fairly large bowl for breakfast (about 3/4 cups) with 3 apricots cut up and added to it and the apricots were worth more calories than the cheese.

Overall rating:

Number of calories: 423/serving - my most fattening meal to date

Will I "Make Again"?: Probably not, but I will do the dressing again.

Tastiness?: 3.5/5

Fills my tummy?: 3/5

Smoky Maple-Mustard Salmon

I don't know about you, but I love salmon! My usual way of doing it is with honey mustard salad dressing, so this recipe caught my eye as I was browsing through EatingWell.com:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/maple_mustard_salmon.html

Again, thanks to Saturnine for putting this website in my sites; lots of stuff on here that looks great!

Now I am going to start off by saying that my husband and I have just recently moved into a new house (like last week) therefore my kitchen is not really stocked with everything that it should have, so I had to make a couple of minor adjustments (I warned you that I do this!!). The regular Heinz mustard was substituted for the Dijon mustard, and Tabasco Chipotle sauce was substituted for the ground chipotle pepper. The end result however was still pretty tasty, and it was SUPER easy to do. The fish has a good flavour to it, and was just a little bit spicy (which we love). I coupled it with Lipton Thai noodles and corn on the cob, both of which seemed to work pretty well with the flavour of the fish.

A couple of things I would do for next time: First of all, I think I would try to marinate the fish in the sauce before cooking it. I liked the flavour but would have liked it to be a bit more "throughout the fish", instead of just on top. Also be careful not to over cook this, as it can go a bit dry if you are not careful. I think that next time I would pair it with something hardier, or get bigger pieces of fish (which you could as it is so low in calories!), as we were both still hungry after we finished eating. Overall, I would try this again, with small adjustments.

Overall rating:

Number of calories: 148/serving

Will I "Make Again"? Yup

Tastiness?: 3.5/5

Fills my tummy?: 2.5/5


Note: The photo is compliments of the EatingWell website; I will make sure I take a photo of the way mine turned out for next time. Sorry!!

Curried Chicken Pitas

Ah, this first recipe. The one that begins it all. The one that will determine how everything goes from here. No pressure.

Okay, so I wasn't completely honest with my introduction post. The dieting has actually been going on for a week now and so far the food has been great (although still smaller than I'm used to) and I've actually lost 3 lbs. *All Hail the Conquering Hero!* So right now I have a bit of a backlog on recipes but I promise to share them all in due time. This was the first one I tried though, so don't get your panties in a bunch.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/curried_chicken_pitas.html


To start off, I LOVE this site. EatingWell.com gives me all my food info upfront and myfitnesspal.com already has most meals in its database. The meals are pretty easy to make but my shopping list has gotten considerably longer. I guess I just didn't have the healthy ingredients I thought I did in my house yet. My one tip for this one is don't substitute a tastier looking pita. The one we bought was a thicker version than the traditional and it lacked the pocket integrity of a real Greek pita.

I was surprised and a bit skeptical about this when I found it and decided to try it. It only calls for one chicken breast for four whole servings! (Okay, so most chicken breasts that you buy at the grocery store are roughly between 8-9oz. and it calls for 12oz. So, I guess it's a bit more than one chicken breast, but if you cut 1/3 off another breast, what do you do with the rest of it?) It also uses pears and almonds so I was a tad concerned about the crunch factor as well. Turns out all my worries were for nothing because this was delicious and really filling. Other than the lack luster pita, the mix was terrific! The curry I used was mild and added excellent flavor without making this salty or spicy and the crunch was perfect and really satisfying. It also filled me up pretty well. As a lunch I would pair it with an apple or something and maybe a juice box if I'm feeling feisty.

This is definitely a "Make Again"! And, because it made four servings, my husband and I had it for lunch again the next day. (Having leftovers is really going to help me in September when I have to start packing a lunch again to take to work.)

So, here's how mine looked:

Overall rating:

Number of calories: 323/serving

Will I "Make Again"? Absolutely!

Tastiness?: 5/5

Fills my tummy?: 4/5

A little about me.

Over the past few years I have had an experience that changed my life. Being a new teacher in Canada right now it is not the easiest of careers, unless of course you don't mind not having a job. So after graduating my husband (than boyfriend) and I decided that the overseas option was really the best one for us....Hey how about China?!? Sure! Why not?! Let's go!

Three years of teaching in Southern China changed the way that I looked at the world, at my career and also at myself. Jumping on a 18 hr flight wasn't that big a deal anymore. Having to push and shove your way onto (and off of) a subway was just how you got around. Getting my food brought to me covered in oil was just the way that things were done. Yet a strange thing happened. One day a good friend of mine was over and, looking at one of the photos of myself and my friends that I had on the wall, he commented on how much weight I had lost since coming to China. WHAT?!? But the food here, while it may be fantastic (and I am talking some of the most amazing food I have ever had!), it is covered with oil and grease! I am eating more rice every day than I did in a month back home in Canada! But he was right. Somehow (and I am still trying to figure it out) I lost at least 2 dress sizes without realizing it.

Now I am not a big person to begin with. Being 5'9" and weighing about 165 or so when I went to China, coming home at 142 was awesome. But than I came home. And the weight started again. Very small amounts but I have only been home for just under a month and I am back up to 148. Too much yummy food I haven't tasted in too long! lol But the last thing I want to do is put back on the weight that the mysterious "China Diet" had taken off. So here I am.

My husband has been telling me for years that I should start doing some exercise to stay in shape and to help with the depression and anxiety that has been plaguing me for longer than he has known me; and now that we are getting ready to start a family, the doctors are saying the same. Well, if I am going to do it, I may as well do it right. And that starts with the food going into my body, as well as what I do with it.

I love to cook, but have always been more of the "that looks good, but what if I did this to it.." kind of chef, so I never have any idea what cal/fat/sodium, etc is going into what I eat. And my idea of dieting was always, eat less and more salad, but all this gives me is a rumble-y belly (which wakes me up in the middle of the night to sneak some chips and dip) and a husband who doesn't want to talk to me. My goal is healthy, yet filling meals that fit within a 1210 cal (for me) and a 1400 cal (for him) diet that isn't going to have us running back to the fridge for more in an hour. Oh, and tasty, tasty food. Can't forget that!!

Hi! Let me introduce myself....

Dieting is hard! I've always hated dieting. The food never tasted very good, the portions were minuscule, and the weight loss was never enough to be worth it. Thank goodness for the internet though, because now I can find food that is actually tasty, filling and good for you!
I'm a big girl. I'm 32 years old, 5'2 and currently weigh 250lbs. I also have PCOS and want to get pregnant and in order to do that, I need to lose weight. I've always tried to justify my plus size; I often make my own dresses and I rock my short, pink (sometimes purple, sometimes blue) hair. I try to feel good about the body I have and not get too down on myself for not looking a certain way or fitting into a certain size. But now, I have to get serious about my weight. I've let this go for far too long!
I was brought up in an Italian home with big Italian meals. I like my carbs and I especially like my pasta. My grandmother was always telling me, "Mangiare, mangiare!" (eat, eat!) and my mother was always telling me to slow down. They were my devil and angel on my shoulders. My mother also lost a lot of weight when I was in highschool. I had just gotten my driver's license and fast food was forbidden at my house so I would sneak it while out in my car and eat it before I got home. I know I have lots of food issues and this is why this particular food challenge is going to be so difficult for me.
My goal is to lose 75lbs this year. To do this I have joined myfitnesspal.com and am now trying to stick to a 1500 calorie a day diet. I am trying recipes from books, websites and friends that are all low calorie/high protein. I am also going to attempt exercise. *The horror!!* Oh, and did I mention that I'm making my husband do all this with me? This blog will be a place for me to share my journey and those recipes that won't make me want to give up and eat a whole chocolate cake while crying onto the scale.