Monday, February 29, 2016

Month Recap

Ohhh, February. Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Brunch with the girls and steak and lobster tails for dinner with my two true Valentines.




And then nothing's as romantic as Bob Odenkirk in some "Better Call Saul" to round out the weekend.



I’m 34 weeks along now and as much as I hate the term “nesting,” I think I’m doing it. On my radar now is cooking meals in bulk to freeze for later. One such awesomely freezable meal is “fried” rice. Though, in order to freeze it, you have to not hoover down all the leftovers right away like we did.

"Fried" Rice
3 cups instant brown rice
16 oz boneless skinless chicken tenderloins, diced into ½ in cubes
16 oz extra firm tofu, diced into ~1/4-1/2 in cubes (could omit either tofu or chicken and double up)
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 cups raw carrots, sliced thinly into coins
3 large eggs + 3 tablespoons milk, lightly whisked with fork
3 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/3 cup lite soy sauce
1.5 cups frozen green peas
2/3 cup chopped green onions
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
Pepper to taste

Cook rice according to package directions. Set aside (in a really really large bowl) and cover to keep warm. In a large shallow pan over medium heat, cook scrambled eggs. Add to rice bowl. Wipe down pan, add sesame oil. Cook chicken for 5 minutes, Turn over. Add carrots and onions. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add tofu, garlic, ginger, green onions, peas, and sesame seeds. Cover and reduce heat to low. Let cook for a few minutes. Add soy sauce. Add mixture to rice. Add pepper to taste.




This will make 8 servings. Per serving: 330 calories, 34 g carbs, 10 g fat, 26 g protein, 2.5 g fiber. Compare this with chain restaurant versions that pack nearly 600 calories per comparable serving.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Don't stop Bieb'in

I know we’ve all been thinking it, so I’m gonna go ahead and just say it-

Justin Bieber’s new songs are really good.

Is it too late to that I’m sorry? Nope, not sorry.

On a totally unrelated note, I gave my dad kind of a lame gift this year for Christmas- only a slight step up from homemade coupons for chores. He had mentioned wanting to try and eat healthier for breakfast. I decided to make him a bunch of pre-cooked frozen meals that can be eaten on the go. When it came time to actually cook and prep, I made breakfast burritos and blueberry oatmeal cups.

Simple Breakfast Burritos
-10 whole grain wheat tortillas
-6 whole eggs + 6 egg whites
-1/2 cup skim/1% milk
-5 strips low sodium bacon, cooked, cooled, and crumbled
-1/2 cup shredded cheese
-2 cups fresh spinach, washed and patted dry

You could really feel free to add in whatever else you’d like- onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. My preferred way to cook bacon is to line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a cooling rack inside. Put the strips of bacon on the cooling rack so that the grease drips onto the baking sheet underneath.

Whisk together eggs, egg whites, and milk. Cook over medium heat until scrambled. Remove from heat and add spinach. Cover until spinach is wilted- the residual heat from the eggs will do this in just a few minutes. Add crumbled bacon.

To assemble burritos, place a spoonful or two of egg mixture in a vertical line in the middle of the tortilla. Wrap the right side of the tortilla across the egg mixture. Fold the top and bottom of the tortilla, then roll over to the left. I wrapped each tortilla in a paper towel, then wrapped that in plastic wrap. My logic is that you need to wrap it in a paper towel to microwave anyway, so might as well wrap it from the beginning.

For the blueberry muffin cups, I followed this recipe from the kitchn with a few modifications (mainly subbing in blueberries and chopped walnuts).  





Fiber-riffic breakfast for ya, dad. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some YouTubing to do. NOT SORRY.