This weekend was...completely the opposite of what a good weekend should be. To  be fair, Friday night was pretty nice. We had found discount tickets to the Cirque de Soleil show in NYC (really great visual entertainment!) and then went to a nice outdoor bar and had some wine/beer. They served me what must have been at least 10oz (1.5 glasses) wine and my dinner was a bit on the small side, so after about 6-7oz I already felt light headed and Boyfriend finished off the rest. Saturday was spent working all afternoon with a side of hot yoga and in the evening, we were both too lazy to go out in the rain so I made mini-oatmeal pumpkin pancakes (detail below) instead to freeze and eat as a breakfast snack.

Sunday, I desperately wanted to get out of the city and we had the rare advantage of having a car.  But weather.com told us it would rain. So we decided to make a gametime decision on hiking and leaving the city.
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In the end, we did the opposite of something active, though we did it outdoors. We demolished this plate of seafood!

On a less gluttonous note, we also spent a lot of time walking around a farmers market that we had no idea lived by the Seaport and bought absolutely DELICIOUS Olive Bread and two types of Beef Jerky. But boy did we sample! Unfortunately, all the sampling happened before this huge seafood feast, so it was probably at least somewhat greedy.
To finish off our eventual ~3 mile walk, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and wound up at my grandparents parents house for some old fashioned Russian food. Best part: the Russian fruit/veg markets in Brooklyn are ahh-mazingly cheap so we stocked up. Our refrigerator is looking pretty, pretty packed.

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On to the pancakes. These little guys, each a bit smaller than a salad plate came out to 70 cal each, though I think I could have added more egg whites, so maybe next endeavor will be 75 cals. I think if I were to exchange pumpkin for banana it would be more, but with blueberries, less. I'd say the 7 pancakes (+ a tester mini one) took less than an hour to make and now they're in my freezer! (well, actually NOW, only 3 days later, most of them are in my belly!)

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Ingredients (makes 7 'cakes)
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
3 servings egg whites
1 tbsp vanilla
Plenty of cinnamon and ginger

I think in the end I added in about 2-3 tbsp sugar free maple syrup.

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All the ingredients get a good mixing in a bowl and each pancake was one heaping soup spoon of batter.

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These were pretty easy, I just used a nice hot non-stick pan with Pam and threw on two heaping soup spoons of batter on at a time. I had to pat the pancakes out to thin them a bit, but I think maybe with more egg whites, I'll leave them thicker. They cooked for about 2-3 minutes on each side and flipping them was pretty difficult.

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Well they're not the prettiest pancakes ever, but when I'm half asleep in the morning, I'm not so picky!

Here's the thing: they're OK but not great plain. They ARE great with just a schmear of reduced-sugar jam or the best: apple butter/pumpkin butter.

The batter came out to 7 cakes + a taster and 4 made it into the freezer before they made it into my tummy. This morning I popped one in the toaster oven and it was the perfect thing to tide me over until I could have a real breakfast after I did a bunch of work! =)

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And, to end the post on a really ugly picture, this is my second breakfast: Overnight Oats.

1/3 cup raw old fashioned oats
1/2 cup Light N' Fit Vanilla Yogurt
1/2 cup Chocolate Milk (Almond Breeze, Unsweetened, my new obsession!)
1/2 frozen blueberries
1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tsp cocoa powder.
*A tbsp of Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup
would have been great but I didn't have it*







Easy peasy to make:
1) Microwave blueberries until they are steaming, make sure they are popped or mash them a little with a spoon.
2) Throw all ingredients into a container (or a bowl if you're eating at home) and refrigerate overnight.
3) In the morning, give it a shake and enjoy the chewy but not raw oats and somewhat chocolaty/fruity taste.

Today promised to be a very busy morning at work and I had some stuff to do in the morning including finishing my Butternut Squash Soup (coming in a later post). Unfortunately, I DID find time to do a bunch of snacking along with my mini oatmean-pumpkin pancake (smeared with TJs Honey Apple Butter-100 cal total) so I couldn't top this jar with crunchy cereal like I wanted. (Not because I am limiting, but because honestly, in the end I was just full!)

Anyway, the overnight oats have definitely become more refined and I didn't blend it today because I wanted the chewiness. Turns out some of my errors before came down to choice of milk: Almond Breeze Unsweetened Chocolate wins out over 1% Skim Milk.

Today for lunch, I have the soup with a side of Olive Bread and some snacks =)

Since there are really no major plans for dinner cooking coming up this week and this weekend entails a wine-tasting/hiking trip to Ithaca (my old stomping ground!) I'm going to save the two really yummy dinners I made last week for two future posts =) Sorry for the looong post and the time between posts too!

<3 Jules

 
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Dessert was calling to me on Thursday morning (I'm backlogged again, sorry) so I made myself my caramel apple oats (similar to Apple Pie Breakfast, but prettier).

3/4 apple (cored and cubed)
1/3 cup raw old fashioned oats
~1/4 cup milk
1.5 tbsp Walden Farms Calorie Free Caramel Syrup

This comes out to about 250 cals but is really tasty, just like dessert and filling (if you don't NEED protein in the morning). Just to make it clear though, I wouldn't advertise eating so few calories in the morning. I brought my breakfast up to just over 400 calories with some bites of cheese and trail mix.

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Actually I had an extra half-hour that morning and decided to make Boyfriend's Moms (BMs) Broccolli Soup. She had brought this great broccoli/zucchini soup that was kind of like a gazpacho and I have been trying to get a real recipe out of her for a while. Unfortunately, she's old-school and eyeballs everything, so I'm not sure of the ratios. I'm still unsure, since I clearly got this wrong.

My Ingredients
1 head broccoli (170g)
1 zucchini (160g)
Salt, Pepper
1/4 cup Greek Yogurt added at end.

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I broke down the head of broccoli and peeled the zucchini

I steamed the whole thing up and threw it into my food processor.

It did not puree that well. I suppose some water should have gone into it?

I salted it, peppered it, even threw in some lemon juice and some mint flakes, but it didn't taste anything like BMs soup. AND it was so much thicker. What gives?

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Here it is, in my jar, heading to work with me. In the end, I wound up taking a dinner roll and breaking it down into the jar.

It was tasty, I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't what I had been hoping to accomplish. =(

Boyfriend's mom, if you read this, please leave a comment with the site, with me or with Boyfriend and tell me where I went wrong! More zucchini? Water? More steaming?

So, this is a short post BUT if you look around the site, you will notice that the Recipage has been really, really updated and now most of my recipes are on there. What I haven't done yet is actually MAKE an About Me or a Products page, but that's coming. Now I have a LOT more time and have every intention of doing a good job blogging.

On the exercise front, I'm now running 9 minute miles! Not consistently, but it's happening. And for some reason, I'm not feeling the need to get to 1700 calories a day (1200 net after exercise factored in). Maybe it's just the summer heat.

Coming up: Taco Night with Grilled Shrimp and Mango and tonight culinary adventure: FakeOut Shepherds Pie (Cauliflower subbed for potatoes, turkey sausage subbed for meat)

 
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There is no flour, oil or butter anywhere on this plate!!!
All this time, all this dieting, all this "healthy cooking" and why, why have I never tried anything with cauliflower? I've had it roasted before and liked it well enough. I have no idea why I always pass it by in the grocery store. But I certainly wont make THAT mistake again!

Quite some time ago, Nurse Z mentioned to me a cauliflower pizza crust she made without flour. I admit, when I first heard it, I was pretty skeptical. Plus, she told me it wasn't that lo-cal so I kind of put it on the back burner. But at some point, something clicked and I did some quick math and I decided I could a) lower her calorie counts and b) totally make it part of a good meal that wouldn't set my calorie budget way back.

The story of cauliflower pizza night is one of my typical kitchen experiments. I went to the gym after work and grocery shopped after that, arriving home by just before 8pm. I started to prep before hopping in the shower, and the instructions seemed so easy I had Boyfriend take over the work while I was gone. He did wonderfully, even taking a very aesthetically pleasing Ingredients picture! But, the pizza crust wouldn't be done before 9pm so if it didn't work out (and cauliflower pizza crust? who thought this would be a good idea?!?) we would be pretty hungry. But it DID work out, and it made for a delicious lunch (uh..i mean breakfast) the next day. But it did work, and it worked so well that I think cauliflower and eggplant will just always be in my fridge.
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Ingredients (courtesy of Boyfriend)
-psst, could be a little lighter....
*Makes 6 servings/slices*
1.25 cups (or about 10 oz) "riced" cauliflower --> 70 cal
2.5 servings fat free cheddar cheese (70g) --> 110 cal
2.5 servings fat free cheddar cheese (70g) --> 170 cal
1 egg --> 80 cal
Salt, Italian Seasoning, pepper (to taste)

Total: 430 cal = just over 70 cal/slice




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1) Steam cauliflower until soft (7 minutes?)

2) "Rice" the cauliflower in a food processor or use a grater

3) Dump in remaining ingredients and spices and blend until the cheese melts with the hot veg and becomes kind of gooey (see pic)

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Line a cookie sheet with foil (or parchament paper) and Pam the foil.

Spread out the dough to desired thickness (1/4 inch?)

 Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
**Broil for 5 minutes, flip and broil for another 3 minutes for crispness**
Notes: 1) It takes a bit of creativity to flip this thing. I put it onto a big plate then held the cookie sheet under it with an oven mitt. 2) Crispness is important when topping it, but I only broiled on one side when I made it.

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Topped with grilled eggplant rounds.
1) slice eggplant into thin (1/4 inch) round pieces
2) Pam spray and heat grill pan

3) Spray or brush one side of the rounds with olive oil, season the rounds on one side with salt and pepper.
 
4) Grill first on unseasoned side until you see grill marks, flip and do the other side. (4 mins each side?)

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I topped my pizza with a few dallops of tomato sauce and a few pieces of chopped turkey bacon and then sat the eggplant rounds on top. back into the broiler for 3 minutes.

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Add to all this a few spears of asparagus (grilled with a spray of olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon juice)

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Notice something about the his and hers plates? Same size! Yes, this was so healthy that aside from the extra sprinkle of parmesan, I felt so good about this meal I ate as much as Boyfriend. =)

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A closeup of my wonderful 300 calorie plate.

It turned out wonderfully, tasted a LOT like regular pizza and really filled me up.

Mmm....that leaves lots of room for dessert!!

 
No salad =( =( =(
So I had some white rice (with some duck sauce poured over) AND some noodles. No beef and just a little chicken with lots of veggies. Ok, I could be ok with all this.
Then there were the two slices of cake. Two! It was light....but I definitely didn't do so well today.

Silver lining (sort of): Just realized that tomorrow will not allow me to exercise, so I WILL have to fit in a workout today after all. This sucks, because as you know, I
 
Dilemma: Tonight is date night and we are doing dinner and a movie (Bridesmaids!). This morning was not a low-calorie experience and I don't have any plans to do any heavy working out today. Here's the kicker, they're serving a Thai buffet at work today AND it's my bosses birthday so there will be a cake.

Silver lining: there's always a lot of good salad to go along with the unhealthiness and in a crunch I can pound out a quick 3 miles between work and dinner and movie.

I'm really, really, really hoping that I can follow the goals I've set for myself: Giant bowl of salad topped with shrimp (preferably) or chicken and maybe some of the thai veggies. Half a spring roll is allowed. No rice, no noodles, no beef. 1 small slice of cake.
I will even attempt to photograph (discreetly) in order to maintain honesty.

Silver lining #2: There's ALWAYS leftover salad so I have a ready-made lunch base for tomorrow.
Silver lining #3: Tomorrow I can have lunch at the lunchspot with the pink flowers again!

Recipe (sort of): Last night I came home a bit late from the new workout class and made myself mashed and cheesy cauliflower in about 20 minutes that tasted better than mashed potatoes!! (Well, I think so, Boyfriend just said it was yummy,  but potatoes are better). I don't have pictures, but it was about 1 cup/100 calories (consider what a cup of mashed potatoes would cost you!).
200g cauliflower (steamed)
1 serving fat free shredded cheddar (~30g)
1/2 serving part-skim mozzarella cheese (~15g)
Salt/red pepper flakes/italian seasoning to taste

Throw all ingredients into a blender/food processor and let 'er rip. It's kind of tough to get it going but the results were amazing =) You can always add a little bit of the steaming water to get it thinned.

I'm a little concerned that knowing how easy it is to ake good eggplant and having discovered cauliflower (yes, discovered, I've literally never used it before) I will make all my meals with those two vegetables. They are SO  hearty and SO low calorie (how??) and apparently can be made into anything from breads/crusts/pizza toppings/dips! 

Now, I've been hearing about zucchini bread quite a bit recently. I see that as a distinct possibility in the near future. 
 
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New Rotation Lunch Spot!!
This month (at a stark contrast to last month) I am working normal hours and most importantly, those hours don't wear me out nearly as much. Plus, check out my new lunch spot! So I'll be getting home at 6pm every night and even with a trip to the gym, I should be able to get cooking by 7:30 or 8pm. Of course, I'll still be doing a lot of prep work! =)

This post will be devoted to my to-go breakfasts that I've had over the past stressful month. My leisurely breakfasts with a book were no longer an option, so I had to pack most of them. I'm so glad I made that cranberry sauce and that my freezer is full of frozen fruit =)

At the risk of being dull with titles, I didn't call this one Things to Put In Jars Part III, though I may as well have!
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These jars are pretty great, for less than $3/piece. But what's greater is the puffed cereal things that I found in the health food store (costing way less than the Quaker brand or any brand name cereal). From the left: puffed kamut, puffed corn and that dark little jar all the way on the right is TJs wild rice (featured in the creamy mushroom rice recipe)

Puffed kamut? you ask. Well, I had no idea until I just googled it  because when I bought it I thought it was puffed wheat. Whoops. What an awesome mistake though, this "Great-great-grandfather of Grains" thing is way better than puffed wheat. Same calories too. Score! The puffed corn smells and tastes a lot like Kix cereal (just less than half the calories of Kix and way less than half the price).

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First up, the cranberry vanilla parfait. This one I actually DID have time to eat at home, but since I was using the last of my homemade cranberry sauce (I think I'll be making more of this STAT since it went so well with EVERYTHING!) I just plopped some light vanilla yogurt on top of the last bits of the sauce/jam right in the jar. Then I some of the puffed kamut and a bit of puffed corn and used my long spoon. Yum!

Note: these don't really give any crunch because they get soggy fast. But they add some nice cereal flavor.

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Here's a less-than-stellar shot of a to-go doughy blueberry smoothie.

1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup light vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk (I miss my chocolate almond breeze already!)
3/4-1 cup frozen  blueberries
1 tsp chia seeds
Topped with a few handfuls of puffed corn (ghetto Kix)

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And more to-go stuff: the usual pear salad. I've not even had time to vary my diet =(

But this is about 3/4 of a pear (Anjou is my fave!) - the rest is part of breakfast - cubed,
a nice big heaping handful of spinach or arugula (preferred) and some fat free feta cheese crumbles. All this doused with fruit-flavored vinegar and a baggie of puffed kamut to sprinkle on top  before eating.

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Finally, I have improved on the original baked tofu situation.

1) I don't soak the tofu in soy sauce or anything but try to get all the liquid out by pressing it flat between two paper towels (I slice up the tofu into thin pieces, place on a paper towel on top of a cutting board and place another paper towel on top. Then I weigh down a second cutting board with a heavy pot and get the tofu nice and dry.


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2) I paint it with some honey mustard marinade (bbq sauce or any marinade will probably also be fine)

3) Bake in a toaster oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes on each side (the first side takes longer, 12 mins?)

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I will call these 3.5 pieces about 100 cals total (the other half piece was the taster!). I chopped them up and put them in my pear salad when I ran out of feta cheese. It worked out really well and added some much needed protein.

Ok, gotta run! Teaser for next post: cauliflower pizza crust (no flour, no butter, no oil and still sooooo tasty!). Nurse Z gets a nod for turning me on to this, though I may have doctored it up just a bit!

As an aside, I thought I'd be having a lonely lunch at the pretty lunch spot, but I was soon joined by 3 lovely girls, one of whom is a member at my gym and I will be trying out a class called Relentless! today with her instead of the original plan of Hot Yoga. I guess maybe a cardio/toning mix might be just as good as a sweating/toning session. The upside: it's $0 (as opposed to $10 with travel) and it's a lot closer....

<3 Jules

 
This weekend was a whirlwind of work, running, walking, dinnering and finally, finally, on Sunday evening, relaxing. Briefly, I worked (standing) all through the night on Friday (till 11pm, taking a break only to run 4.5 miles-ill advised) then on Saturday (8am-3pm) and finally went for another run (6 miles, I'm a nut) and then headed downtown for a great outdoor pizza dinner with friends (with nutella cake for dessert, seriously!). Afterwards, our plans for the night fell through and we walked, and walked, and walked all the way from downtown financial district to union square (about 3.5 miles). You'd think my legs would have been jello, but we got up on Sunday morning and did a 4 mile run in the park before brunch. Actually that last 4 mile run was an absolute misery, I felt sluggish and awful throughout the whole thing. Still it was worth it for a sangria, ceviche, shrimp salad-filled lunch. Dinner even featured a small slice of carrot cake for dessert. So I'm done, relaxing, and making some baked tofu to put in my pear salad

Ok, now onto the attempt at Stroganoff. Come on now, I am Russian after all, it was only a matter of time before I tried to tackle Stroganoff. Of course, this recipe would have to take a LOT of modifications and I'm not too surprised when the end-product turned out to be delicious, but not at all a Stroganoff.

Here's the ingredient list for a "simple" Beef Stroganoff I found online. This thing serves 4 and it doesn't even include the wide flat noodles that go along with a Stroganoff:

6 Tbsp butter, 1 pound of top sirloin or tenderloin, 1/3 cup chopped shallots (can substitute onions), 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, Salt/pepper to taste, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of dry tarragon or 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh tarragon, 1 cup of sour cream at room temperature

But I was gonna work with what I had. Since we had just found some mushrooms on sale (and they were probably getting ready to turn, so I figured they'd have to be made stat) but had no beef, this was gonna be a vegetarian Stroganoff. Or...a creamy mushroom rice, if you will. I'm posting this recipe because it was not only a tasty success, but it took the over-the-hill-mushrooms and allowed them to sit in our fridge for enjoyment for over a week. A week.
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Ingredients (this made 4 servings at about 200 cals each, good for main lunch course or hearty side)

1 cup (or so...) chicken stock + 1 cup H2O
1 cup rice (I used the TJs wild rice)
1 cup yogurt
1/2 onion
1 pack mushrooms (all shown)

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First I dropped the cup of rice into a pot with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 chicken stock. I added just less than a tbsp of salt to the water (chicken stock was unsalted). While this was heating up, I chopped up the mushrooms and onion.

Big pan (absolute necessity) sprayed down with Pam got all the mushrooms and onion. I covered the pan and let them hang out and release some juices. Eventually I added a few tbsp chicken stock.

By this time, the liquid in the rice had gone down and I added the remaining 1/2 cup water, 1/2 chicken stock. This is the secret to creamy as opposed to fluffy rice (if you prefer fluffy, just do as it says on the box). I let that boil down and kept stirring it every now and then while the mushrooms kept cooking.
In the end, I added a bit of water to the mushroom mixture because it was getting a bit dry. No biggie.

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Andddd....finally, when the rice was just a LITTLE bit al dente (chewy) I threw it into the pot with the mushrooms and added in the 1 cup greek yogurt. It developed a strange grainy texture as it heated, but eventually dispersed into the rice, giving it a nice creamy taste. I also put in a BUNCH of black pepper grounds to give it some kick.

This is definitely going to be made again. =)



Now, since I've been so delinquent for so long, I'll post another quickie "recipe" though it's really just the easiest fastest dinner solution to a stressful work day.

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At a fruit/veg 24 hour store (gotta love Manhattan!!) we ran across these giant brussel sprouts. So I boiled them in some hot water (just until the biggest ones were easy to split in half) and quickly whisked together a sauce: 2 parts balsamic vinegar, 1 part soy sauce good ole squirt of wasabi mustard. I know I make this one a lot, but it works out really well! It's kind of heavy on the salt (even though I use the low-sodium soy sauce) but I suppose I'll just have to hope my kidneys are up for the challenge.

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And there it is, a 20 minute dinner (10 of that was waiting for the sprout water to boil) and the other 10 was spent splitting the sprouts and making the sauce. So filling, so healthy feeling. I know, I know, no protein and that big glass of wine doesn't look so healthy but....when I got home from a looong day of work and gym this sure hit the spot.

To end on a personal note, my hellish rotation is finally over and I'll be able to spend more time actually getting my life together. However, because it's summer, I do expect to be going away on quite a few trips, doing a lot of outdoor picnicking and so forth. Hopefully I'll have something to share now and then, but I'd rather spend my summer outside than inside the kitchen!

Though I'm excited to make some cold soups, so maybe I'll have plenty to write about after all!

 
This blogging thing has been pretty pretty cool, but as it turns out, it DOES come with some obligations! When my dad was going to deliver two of my mom's paintings to our apartment, he expected (?) me to make a delicious nutritious dinner. Well I definitely wanted to but between work and working out, having dinner ready to go by his 7:30 arrival was going to be quite hard. So I made the easiest things I could. First, the baba ganoush was made for dad. I had baked and cleaned the eggplant the night before, so all I had to do was throw all the yogurt/spices into the blender and give it a whirl. Ok, appetizers were done. Popped open a bottle of wine, broke a few crackers in half....simple.

Now the main courses. My dad isn't a huge dinner eater. He, like me, prefers to get most of his food during breakfast/lunch. Or when going out. Guess who I take after! So I decided a fish and a veggie would be just fine.
Easiest thing: tilapia (already had the filets thawed) and asparagus!
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Here it is, clockwise from 12 o'clock it's the asparagus (way overpriced, not even that fresh!), a panko-black sesame seed crusted tilapia (will describe below) and the baba ganoush with crackers. Lots o' wine on the table and, as usual, my tankard of water.

I force myself to drink tons of water all the time, it really is great for you. Flushes stuff out, keeps you hydrated, fills you up. Etc Etc Etc.

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For the tilapia (no good pics, but this was a huge hit so I'll be making it again) I took 4 of these filets and brushed them with a balsamic/soy sauce/wasabi sauce (I would call it 2 parts balsamic, 1 part soy, big ol' squirt of wasabi).

Then I put about a cup of panko seeds and about 2-3 tbsp of black sesame seeds (these things are getting a LOT more mileage than I thought they would!) on a shallow dish (use a big dish, I didn't and regretted it later). I rolled the liquid brushed tilapia around in it and tossed it on a pan (coated in Pam).

This next part took some patience. First of all, I hand-crusted the top part with more panko/sesame. Then I waited....Then I had to flip. So carefully. This fish is really delicate. In the end one of the filets broke apart. Oh well.

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The day I went shopping for my dad's dinner, I also ran into this. A mix for only 6 muffins. This is great because 12 muffins become more of an obligation of consumption after a while.

I figured I would definitely not add the oil and use skim milk instead of regular.

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Here it is: corn muffin mix, 1/3 cup milk, about 1/2 cup yogurt (to sub for 2 tbsp oil) and 1 egg. I also decided to put in 1 cup of canned corn kernels to beef up the bread a bit.

At the last minute I added a tsp of baking powder, so that I'd get extra fluffy muffins.

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And at the VERY last moment, I chopped up 3 pieces of super-lean turkey bacon.

For the 10 extra calories, I should have just used regular turkey bacon. Bah.

Actually if I ate pork, I would have thought regular bacon would be even better.

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Here they are, they turned out looking gorgeous and tasting great (just not like bacon). Also, they came out to 7 instead of 6!

In fact, as great as I think they tasted, I only got to have 1! Friends ate 3, Boyfriend had 2 in one sitting and 1 a few days later. They sat happily in the fridge for about 3 days and probably would have sat longer.

Lesson learned. Also, they could have used some jalapeno or some scallion perhaps. Challenge accepted.

On a personal note, it seems last weekends excesses have finally caught up to me, as I knew they would. It's infinitely sad to me that I can feel so good about overdoing it for a few days because the "extra" just doesn't show up until at least several days later when you least expect it.

The parting note is this: if you are "back on the wagon" after a big feast weekend, don't get discouraged when things aren't going as you feel they should be. It's just the stuff from the weekend making a home in your body. If you stay healthy for a while, it will begin to feel unwelcome and depart =)

Write to you soon,
<3 Jules

 
There are loads of days where I just don't get any protein. Hard work days when I just do a lot of snacking means a lot of carbs, and sometimes fruits/veg but very rarely do I SNACK on chicken or fish. But I've found that there is one easy snackable food that can provide protein. Chickpeas!

Turns out, 1 cup of chickpeas (a serving is more like 1/4-1/3 cup, of course) contains 15g or 30% of your recommended daily protein intake. So, my 1/4 cup portion of baked chickpeas (worth about 160-170 calories) provides me with about 4g protein. For comparison, a typical Kashi bar will run about 6g of protein (140 cals).
The big difference between the two of those is that you can't pop a piece of Kashi bar into your mouth every now and then for a while if you need something out of boredom. So, compared to other poppables the chickpeas are pretty protein heavy. Yes, I know, almonds would work too, but 1/4 cup almonds is fewer almonds than chickpeas, so they are a BIT voluminous =)
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How does one snack on chickpeas? you might be wondering. They're wet and taste a bit bland. They're a salad topping or something to put in a dip! But not if you....bake them! With spices.

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Baked Spiced Chickpeas

1 can garbanzo beans (15oz)
Generous spray of olive oil
Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, Cumin, Paprika.

Give a good dusting of salt, pepper and cumin. Go heavy on the paprika, light on the cayenne if you can't handle spicy.



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Step 1: After thoroughly draining the chickpeas, spread them out on a paper towel.

Step 2: Once the paper towel is thoroughly wet, put another one down, let that soak too.

Step 3: If you're patient, TRY to let the chickpeas dry as much as possible. They dryer they start, the crunchier they'll be in the end.

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Here they are after they've been dried...I'm not patient enough =(  and seasoned.

The more paprika you use the smokier and prettier they'll be. The cumin and cayenne can be a bit strong.


And the final product is above.

How you like this one kids, sorry for the short and to the point post, but this is my first and last day home at a reasonable time all week so I'm gonna actually work out WITH Boyfriend and spend the evening with him. I will be having brussel sprouts for dinner because my pre-gym snack was more like a meal!

<3 Dr. Jules

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    Author

    I'm a recent graduate from medical school and a pathology resident living in New York City. Like most girls living in the city, I've found that a lot of my social life revolves around the regular consumption of high-calorie food and alcoholic beverages. I've decided to start a blog about how I am trying to beat the bulge by eating and cooking defensively between social engagements and how even a busy girl can fit exercise into a busy life.

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    All recipes are on Petitchef

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