One Day At A Time: 06/01/2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of those staples in life to me. I love it beyond words but rarely will make it myself. Now that I'm trying to do more "clean eating" I decided perhaps now was the time to whip up a batch instead of purchasing premade stuff or ordering out. Making my own not only allows me to know exactly what's in it but change it up however I want in order to make it mine. Here's what I did today!

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1/2 Vidalia Onion (I used vidalia because I adore these & they're in season, OH SO SWEET too!)
4 Cups pre-cooked rice (I mixed some organic white & brown rices that I had made the other day)
2 Eggs
4 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons organic dried pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste (careful with the salt because soy tends to add salt)
2 Tablespoons oil (I use an organic sesame or extra virgin olive)

1/8 cup frozen peas (I had some organic frozen peas .. funny part is I'm not a pea fan but decided to try this)
1/8 cup frozen edamame (these are baby soy beans that I also found organic & frozen - see the picture to the left)
1/8 cup frozen diced carrots (again organic and from the freezer section)
*NOTE: the measurements of the veggies (carrots, peas & edamame) are estimated... I basically used literally a palm full of each which I figure to be between 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup... face it you can't really have too much of these can you and you can add other veggies of your choice or omit what you don't like.

In bowl whip up eggs with a little salt & pepper, set aside.

Place oil in fry pan & heat up. Add frozen veggies to the oil along with diced onion. Stir regularly until veggies are almost completely unfrozen & onion is clear. Stir in crushed peppers. Salt & pepper to taste.

Slowly pour eggs into mixture, stirring and breaking up until small pieces.

Add rice & soy sauce to entire mixture and stir continuously until cooked through.

Serves 4

*Note: You can make this your own by adding whatever you like. I tend to usually add extra carrots as I love them and onions. I rarely will add any meats, just not what I really like, but you can easily add some cooked meats to the rice and heat through. Make sure the meats are pre-cooked and you just toss into the mixture. Some good meats to add are antibiotic free lean beef strips, chicken strips or diced, or even some leftover pork chops (although I'm trying to omit most porks from my diet at this point).

This also freezes nice. I put in ziplock bags and then when I want I can pull it out and microwave them (put a few slits in the corners of the bag & lay it flat) to reheat. Reheats very well.. IF you have any left over! LOL

When I can't create my own Chinese my all time, ultimate favorite way to get some GOOD Chinese food is via Kahiki. They straight out are the BOMB and offer a "Naturals" line with no preservatives, organic ingredients, antibiotic free meats, minimal processing and more! Check them out HERE and believe me, I haven't found one item they make that I don't love! I wiped out some of their General Tso Chicken the other day!

Wish me luck! And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

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Check out my Daily Menu Food Log for a quick glance at what I'm eating to get where I'm at, which is a healthier & therefore thinner ME! While I don't always keep it up to date.. I do give you some different ideas of what might help you change up your daily menu!

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

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4. BWJEN - Another WW Buddy & A 'bookworm' too!?

6.Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!

*Note I am not affiliated nor endorsed by Weight Watchers® at all, in any way. I highly recommend their program and cannot say enough GOOD about it, but I also have decided that they were my "stepping stone" to making a change in my lifestyle. Any mention of Weight Watchers®, their program or their term of "points®" does not mean they have approved, seen, or endorsed anything on my blogs.

Also, if at any time Points® are mentioned it is always with the assumption that you will analyze the recipes, foods, ingredients and figure the points out specifically for your consumption of any product, as ingredients may vary by brand, size, etc. and Points® is a registered trademark of the Weight Watchers® company.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Making a yummy all natural breakfast quickly!

By now you all must know I absolutely love my "Breakfast Sammies" and I eat them all times of day! It was a dilemma for me when I decided to begin eating "clean" and cutting out the chemicals. The entire sandwich I used to eat was based upon pre-made, ready to eat style foods, all slapped together into a quick sandwich. I was certain this was no longer an option because finding "boxed" foods of any type that aren't loaded with chemicals is nearly impossible... or so I thought!

Here's how I figured out an easy & effective way to create my beloved treats I wanted to introduce you to the products I've found that help me make my sammies in a slightly more healthy way!

I love Vans All Natural Lite Waffles. These are amazing because not only are the ingredients natural and not chemical laden but 2 waffles come in at 2 points. (140 cal, 2g fat, 6g fiber)

I even found some Jones Dairy Farm all natural sausages at GFS (a restaurant supply store that offers very few "healthy" items but great prices for large quantities of food). I was pretty excited to find a huge package of the sausages at GFS for $9.99 for 32 patties, but they didn't offer the "lite" version, which I later found at Wegmans. For $1.99 a package I got the Jones Dairy Farm all natural sausages with rice in them at Wegmans. It sounds a little strange, having rice in your sausage links, at first but it's a great way to put in a natural "filler" without using a ton of fat! Unfortunately they only had the links but I can survive. The full fat version comes in at 170 Calories, 16g of fat & 0g of fiber. A little hefty in points at 5 pts per patty! I used this version for a few times until I could come across the lite versions. Thankfully their numbers are a little kinder. For 3 links it's 3 points, so basically 1 pt. per link. (130 cal, 9g fat, 0g fiber). I found it a lot easier to bite down on 3 points & 3 pieces of meat as opposed to one piece of meat that rang up at 5 points by itself! Hopefully I'll get the patties in "lite" form soon here at Wegmans too! Until then, I'll use the links and catch them before they roll off the waffle!

Of course finding "sliced" organic cheeses is not easy nor is it economical. Unfortunately I am a cheese freak so I will confess that I do still use 2% cheeses but try to find some of the better brands and natural styles located in the actual cheese case. A slice of 2% cheddar on top of the sausage, then sandwiched between 2 lightly buttered waffles makes for an amazing lunch or breakfast. Heck, I sometimes use these as "snacks" when I've eaten light all day and find myself getting hungry.

Here's a shot of my yummy breakfast sammy made with the above ingredients. This particular sandwich I did make with the patties so it's about 2 points higher than if you'd use the lite sausage. Total for my entire sandwich (I sprinkle each waffle with some maple & cinnamon sprinkles) comes in at 8 points and believe me it's the tastiest treat. Since I've written a zillion different ways to create this baby I think it's safe to assume it's a staple on my list of foods I eat regularly AND now I can eat it under the "clean eating" label!

Wish me luck! And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

4. BWJEN - Another WW Buddy & A 'bookworm' too!?

6.Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!

Wash that Produce if you can't buy organic!

One of the things I found with trying to "eat organic", especially with fruits and veggies, is that it's often just not feasible to purchase these items from the grocery! You can get some items decently priced, especially if you get locally grown items but for the most part you can get a whole lot of a "non-organic" produce product for the same price as one organic piece. It's sad, but true.

When I realized that some products are worth buying organic, simply because of the amounts of pesticides used and found on them I also realized that this meant it was going to have to be "okay" to purchase some fruits and veggies non-organic.

I found the recipe for a homemade soak for your fruits and veggies that is so simple and helps you get rid of the chemicals! You simply mix equal parts water and white vinegar, or you can use a veggie wash like Environne, which removes chemicals from the surface.(But I say why pay the extra money when you can use water and vinegar?)

Because pesticides are created to be water-resistant (they have to stay on even when it rains), just water is often not enough to get the chemicals off.

Most of all, keep in mind the list of the Dirty Dozen in mind when buying your produce! These 12 types of produce have been found to have the highest pesticides on them:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Grapes
Imported spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes

Oddly enough, sweet potatoes are one of the lowest! Makes no sense to me, but I guess there's a reason. So if you can buy the above produce organically it's best. But if not, use the wash I've posted to help get rid of the chemicals that kill!

Wish me luck! And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

4. BWJEN - Another WW Buddy & A 'bookworm' too!?

6.Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!