Weddingbee Blog

oh yeah, it’s also funny how in one of your cooking blog posts (yep already reading. haha) you mention how it’s hard to learn from your mom bc she doesn’t use exact measurements! yeahhh… totally feel you on that one. i’m always trying to scramble and write stuff down but she just throws in a pinch here, a spoonful there. haha.

I’m not Asian, so here are a few non-Korean ideas! My go-to healthy meals are:

-Dr. Oetker frozen pizzas - I buy the vegetarian ones like spinach or tomato pizzas. I don’t know if they have these pizzas in the USA but any thin-crust, veggie pizza will do the trick. Check the calories per serving and make sure it’s around 150 - 200 calories per serving. Then I eat only one or two servings with salad on the side and pack up the rest of the pizza for leftovers.

-any tomato or vegetable based soup. Yummy on its own or with extra veggies added and with a slice of fresh multigrain bread on the side to dip in the soup.

-veggie stir fry (I just fry up whatever veggies I have in the fridge with a tiny bit of oil and some Kikkoman stir fry sauce) served over brown rice

-whole wheat pasta with any of the tomato-based Classico sauces. Check the calorie content of the sauce again for the lower-calorie ones. I add extra veggies like fresh mushrooms and broccoli florets to the sauce.

-hummus and pita bread with spinach salad on the side. This hummus is sooo yummy and very easy to make, and you’ll have leftovers to use as a dip or sandwich spread for a few days. You need a blender to make it.

HUMMUS:

1 can chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans). Drain about half the liquid but reserve it in a bowl - don’t toss it down the drain.
1/4 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 cloves of garlic

Combine all ingredients in the blender. It may too thick to mix properly. If this is the case, add in a little of the reserved liquid from the chickpeas, stir, and turn the blender on again. Continue doing this until you have added enough liquid that the mixture blends smoothly in the blender.

Serve with warm pita bread (for a real treat, buy the thicker Greek-style pita bread and heat it with 1 tsp of olive oil in a frying pan till slightly golden on both sides, cut the pita into wedges and dip in the hummus while the bread is hot.) and a small spinach salad on the side.

I have no recipes to share…but wanted to let you all know that the guidelines of Mrs. Bee really does work. Since January, I’ve been on this health kick, where I have cereal for breakfast (Smart Start), salad for lunch (with lots of tomatoes and an egg), and pretty much anything I want for dinner in a smaller portion than I used to eat. I do this routine on the weekdays and the weekends is usually a more relaxed environment and I just watch the portions that I eat. I am happy to report that since January, I have lost an unhealthy 15 lbs on my tiny barely 5 ft stature. I’m so excited since I was at a whopping 135 lbs at my heaviest….can’t believe I just admitted that…and now I’m a more manageable 120 and counting….I blame the rest of the weight in my 36DD’s…=)

Kudos to the new recipes as I’m excited to try new food! Keep them coming!

now that you have that toaster oven….

sometimes i cook two chicken breasts, slice them up and put them in the freezer. then, for the next few days i can make toaster soft tacos: take a tortilla (zap in microwave in plastic for 5 seconds to make it pliable) add salsa, some chicken, some black beans, a little cheese (i use my carrot peeler to just get a few strips of it), red pepper, maybe a slice of avocado….roll it up and bake it in the toaster oven and voila! i usually eat two or maybe three. FH loves them and eats 4 or 5.

a just slightly less healthy/more decadent variation: coat the chicken in BBQ sauce when you cook it initially. At the same time you’re making the chicken, roast a red pepper in the toaster oven. Slice both and put in fridge for later… For the tacos: sliced BBQ chicken, roasted red pepper, a little bit of gorgonzola cheese, a slice of red onion, black beans and a slice of avocado. soooo good.

the only work snack i didn’t see mentioned was pretzels. i get the little 110 calorie snyders snack packs. Fresh Direct sells them by the case…. i also love the strawberry yogurt zone bars and the organic zone frozen dinners.

oh yeah, i also keep frozen shrimp in the freezer. they thaw out quickly under running cold water and are a great quick protein. (They also work well in toaster tacos.) sometimes i’ll stick some shrimp in tupperware with garlic, lemon juice and a tiny splash of olive oil and just let them sit for days. If I want to grab something fast, it’s a nice option to have.

oh yeah and sparkpeople rocks!

shabu shabu is healthy and so easy!

buy the meat presliced at the asian market.
cut up a block of tofu, julienne some carrots, add spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, etc.

buy goma + ponzu sauce and add minced garlic and green onion, japanese pepper, and hot oil.

healthy! easy!

or sometimes i have breakfast burritos for dinner.
egg beaters, carb option tortilla, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, cheese, sriracha sauce… SO YUMMY!

greek salads are good too. romaine, cubed low fat feta, tomatoes, cukes, slivers of red onion, black olives…. serve with whole wheat pita! or add some grilled chicken if you want!

asparagus drizzled with olive oil, salt and black pepper then grilled/roasted/baked, etc. are DELICIOUS and healthy =)