Category: Meatless Mondays
Visiting Koreatown & How to Make Kimchi
| October 30, 2014 |
A while ago, I visited Koreatown for the first time in Los Angeles with a bunch of other food bloggers in the area. Christina of Christina’s Cucina was our tour guide for this food crawl. It was my first time ever in a Korean market and boy was I glad Christina was our tour guide. There were so many things that I’d never seen before or never cooked with before. By the time our crawl ended, I had a full bag of groceries and somewhat of an idea on how to use them…
What I learned was…
1. Most food packaging is not in English, but most still have the ingredients and nutrition listed in English.
2. Watch out for MSG. It’s in a lot of products offered at a Korean supermarket.
3. When they have jerky-like fish samples… it’s not jerky. It’s meant to flavor broth.
4. You can buy SO MUCH MORE in terms of produce. It’s a lot cheaper. Even organic food is cheap!
5. I love buckwheat noodles. They have a similar texture to normal noodles but have protein in them! Great way to sneak in extra protein on those cheat days when I eat carbs.
6. Bibimbap is actually a pretty healthy lunch option, as are many Korean food items.
7. It’s official. I can’t resist the milk tea and boba… No wonder why I rarely go to a mall. The boba calls to me.
8. Kimchi (or Kimchee) is really cheap and easy to make. Save yourself the $ and just make it yourself.
Easy Kimchi (Kimchee) with Sriracha
- 1 head of napa cabbage (about 2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 1/3 cup white rice vinegar
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 1/3 cup sriracha
- 1 bunch of scallions
Directions
Quarter cabbage lengthwise, then chop into pieces. The size of your chop depends on how little or big you want each bite. I chopped 2 to 3 inches each piece.
In a large bowl, toss with 1/2 cup of kosher salt and let stand for 2 hours at room temperature. Toss occasionally (about every 20-30 min) while it sits. Drain excess water as needed when tossing.
Rinse cabbage with water & drain. Squeeze out all the excess water with your hands and transfer to a large bowl. Tip: I used a colander during this process. It makes it much easier to rinse & drain.
Purée garlic and ginger with vinegar in a blender & pour over cabbage. Add scallions and sriracha. Toss until the cabbage is evenly covered.
Put it in a jar and let it marinate overnight in the fridge & enjoy!
Note: The longer you let the flavors marinate in the jar, the better you’re kimchi will taste. If you have the patience, wait a week before eating it.)
Storage: The best type of containers to store Kimchi is in a glass container. The red juice can stain plastic containers. Keep it in the fridge. It should last you a while because it’s fermented. Mine lasted me about 2 months before I ate it all (and it wasn’t bad yet). I have no idea how long it actually will last because I ate mine before I could find out.
>> If you keep yours longer for 2 months, let me know and I’ll update this to let other readers know how long it lasts.
Skinny Mac & Cheese
| March 6, 2014 |
Mac & cheese is definitely one of my favorite guilty comfort foods. It’s a funny story though, because generally a lot of comfort foods come from when you grew up with, but when I was little I LOVED the blue box mac & cheese and wasn’t the biggest fan of the home-made stuff.
When I was a kid, my Grandma would pick my sister and I up from school every Friday and we’d all have dinner together. When it first became a weekly thing, she asked my mom what my sister and I liked to eat. My mom said macaroni. My Grandma, being the AMAZING cook she is, made it from scratch. And of course, me being the child I was, I said it wasn’t the same as having the blue box mac and I liked “my mom’s” better. Although we all know “my mom’s” was really my way of saying I liked the boxed kind. To this day, I still feel a little ashamed because the next time my grandma made mac & cheese for us, she made it out of the box. Sure I loved it at the time, but looking back on it … I was young and ignorant … what can you do?
I can confidently say that my palate has gotten a lot better (and I no longer prefer boxed foods, haha). But either mac & cheese recipe, blue box or from scratch, can put a damper on the diet.
Mac & cheese is full of fat and carbs. But I wanted to make a skinny version that didn’t just replace everything with fat-free labels. Can anyone honestly say that fat-free cheese is better than the real thing? No.
I wanted to keep the essence of mac & cheese intact by not touching those two ingredients. I used full fat cheeses and normal pasta (because I’m also not a fan of wheat pasta) but just replaced the heavy cream and butter with cauliflower. With the added fiber, it’s definitely more filling than the heavy buttered up mac. Not to say this is an every day “healthy” meal, but it’s certainly better than the traditional recipe, twice-baked with bread crumbs on top.
The serving size is for a full bowl of mac, so if you want to indulge without using this as a cheat meal, eat it as a side dish with some chicken and spinach. Who says macaroni has to be a main dish?
Side note: This recipe passed the boyfriend test. I gave it to him and didn’t tell him it was cauliflower. About half way through, I asked him what his opinion was and told him it was cauliflower. He didn’t taste it until I told him. #winning 🙂
Skinny Mac & Cheese
Makes 4 Servings ~ Macros per serving: 28g Fat, 68g Carbs, 34g Protein
- 3 cups uncooked pasta of choice
- 1 small/medium head of cauliflower
- 2 whole garlic cloves
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to tast
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Pour in your favorite pasta and cook until al dente according to package directions. Personally, I like to go for the fun kind like fusille (spiral) or farfalle (bow-tie, although it technically means butterfly in Italian). Radiatore pasta is what can be seen in the photos.
While the pasta is cooking, cut cauliflower into florets. Place cauliflower, garlic cloves, and chicken stock into a covered pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let steam build in the pot. Cook until cauliflower is tender (about 5 minutes depending on the size of florets).
Drain pasta and set aside.
Pour cauliflower, garlic cloves, and chicken stock into a high-speed blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour back into the pot used to cook the cauliflower. At medium heat, slowly stir in the cheese until melted smooth to create a sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Gently stir sauce and pasta together. Depending on your pasta and how well it absorbs the sauce, you might have extra cheese sauce. Add it in slowly and put any extra sauce in a tupperware. (You can use it as a sauce for veggies, chicken, etc.) Serve immediately.
I topped mine with a little cayenne (optional!) for an extra kick, but feel free to add your favorite topping. Some tasty ideas: bacon, green onions, jalapeño, diced ham (probably not all these ingredients at the same time)
Play around with different cheese options. They all have different nutritional value to them so have fun experimenting. For instance, the parmesan was lower in fat and higher in protein than the cheddar. I added it to balance out the fat content so there would be more protein than fat per serving.
Orange Carrot Juice
| January 28, 2014 |
So I finally broke down and bought a juicer. I love my Vitamix but some times you just want a juice. There are definitely pros and cons on both sides of the juicing-blending spectrum. Since I bought my juicer, I really can’t say which one I like better.
Blending vs. Juicing
When you juice, most of the fiber is stripped from the fruit. However, with the lack of fiber, fresh juice requires minimal digestion giving the digestive system a break. The concentrated form of nutrients can be more quickly absorbed in the body. That being said, that also means the natural sugars from the fruit and veggies will also be absorbed quicker and can cause a spike in blood sugar levels.
Blending only breaks down the fruit you put in so all the fiber is left in there for you to drink. It’s still in a liquid form so it still delivers nutrients faster than eating the whole fruits would be, and without significantly spiking blood sugar levels due to the high fiber content. However, if you’re comparing how much fruit and veggies yielded one cup of your drink, juicing uses more fruits and veggies, packing in more nutrients. And when blending things like carrots, it is very unlikely you will get a juice consistency without watering it down.
Having now been juicing for a week (supplemental to solid foods), I do think despite the fact that juice is not rich in fiber like smoothies are, it does not mean it won’t “clean you out.” Haha! So really, it’s personal preference and up to you to do your research. There really isn’t and answer to which is better for you because our bodies all take what we eat differently. But I CAN tell you I am kinda addicted to my juicer now. It’s super fun! I already have some more juice recipes planned for you all 🙂
Orange Carrot Juice
Macros: Fat 1g, Carb 56g, Protein 4g
- 2 oranges (peeled)
- 4 large carrots
- 1 apple (cored)
- 1 cup fresh spinach (or one large handful)
Follow your juicer’s instructions and juice those babies! Feel free to try different apples and figure out which is your favorite. I personally went the cheap route and bought a bag of whatever was on sale. Recipe should give you 2 servings as a snack or one serving if you’re having it as a meal. (Macros were calculated on the whole recipe, not by servings.)
And if you’re new to juicing, my friend Catherine from Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth wrote a great post called “Juicing for Dummies.” It covers everything from shopping for your fruits and veggies to cleaning your juicier.
Note: Some say it’s ok to juice whole apples because the seeds don’t have enough cyanide to be harmful. I decided why even eat ANY cyanide at all when it only takes a few seconds to core it. But if you core it you might not get as much juice because you’re wasting some of the apple. It’s up to you.
Healthy Halloween Treats: Guacamole
| October 23, 2013 |
There are tons of tempting appetizers that pack more calories than cheeseburger. Stay away from creamy or cheesy apps and dip into some guacamole.
Avocados pack a dose of healthy fats into your diet – rich in vitamins A, C, E, K, B6 and your Omega-3s.
Really, where the turning point is when eating guacamole are the excessive amounts of chips usually involved. Just like when I go to any mexican food restaurant, I limit my number of chips before I even start eating them, counting the chips as I eat – that way I hold myself accountable to a quantifiable number.
Guacamole
- 2 avocados
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 1/4 of a roma tomato, finely diced
- 1/8 of a white onion, finely diced
- 1/2 of a jalapeño, finely diced, seeds removed
- 1 tsp lime
- 1 orange bell pepper (optional for garnish)
- blue corn chips (or the chips of your choice)
Directions
Cut avocados in half and remove the seed. Scoop out avacado from the peel and put in a mixing bowl. Using a fork, mash the avocado until you reach your desired consistency. (Personally, I like mine a little chunky.) Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together.
To make the Jack-O-Lantern bell pepper, use a pairing knife and cut a face out. (I free-handed it.) Pull any seeds or flesh out that interfere with the face through the cut mouth opening.
Serve with blue corn chips (they look black) and/or slices of orange bell pepper.
You can play around with the jalapeño and add more or less if you like things more mild or on the hot side. This recipe yields for a mild to medium guacamole (in my opinion).
My Carbo Loading Recipe and the Tinker Bell Half Marathon
| April 7, 2013 |
There are so many different ways and techniques people use their diet to boost their running performance. Having not really thought about a special diet for the Disneyland Half back in September, for RunDisney’s Tinker Bell Half Marathon I wanted to be more prepared. (If you read my post about the Disney Half, you know I wasn’t prepared in any way, shape, or form).
Besides preparing for the run by running, because we all know that’s a must, I was doing my regular healthy low-carb diet with very minimal cheat meals. The month of, I didn’t cheat at all (with the exception of a celebratory glass of champagne for my work’s 25th anniversary).
Here’s where the diet change starts to come in… Like I mentioned, I follow a low-carb diet. I rarely eat breads and pastas and when I do have carbs, it’s usually some quinoa or oatmeal, and this usually only happens once a week. The week leading up to the run, I added carbs into my daily diet routine. I would have a piece of whole wheat bread for breakfast with some almond butter and a banana or a sandwich for lunch.
The night before my run, I had pasta. YUM! A lot of people say you should carbo-load the night before. There’s even a Pasta in the Park party at Disneyland the night before for an additional fee. For me personally, the acidity in traditional marinara doesn’t sit well with any cardio sessions, so I made a pesto!
Note that it’s nut free for all my nutty EpiPen people out there (some of my best friends included). Not to mention that I discovered pine nuts are way out of my budget. Yikes! Sunflower seeds just seemed so much more practical.
{Nut Free} Spinach Basil Pesto
- 1/2 cup packed fresh basil
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Directions
Put the basil, 2 cups fresh spinach, garlic cloves and half of the extra virgin olive oil in a food processor. Allow the processor to run until the pesto reaches a thick sauce-like consistency. I had to do half the spinach first, then added the other half due to the size of my food processor. Add extra olive oil if needed.
Add your pesto to your pasta or pack for later use. This also tastes great on sandwiches, used as a salad dressing, or even baked on chicken.
Be sure that if you don’t use all of it, you store it with a layer of olive oil on top. Air is pesto’s worst enemy. Think wilted salad, only it’s your pesto that now has a funky wilted flavor. You can store it in a jar but I didn’t do anything fancy – just my tupperware. See how I put about a quarter inch layer of olive oil on top? The next time you use it you can just mix in the olive oil you topped it off with.
Pre-race dieting can really affect your run. The best thing to do is look at your diet. Increase your carb intake based on your current intake. Don’t eat a ton of pasta because another runner said that’s what they do. Eating more than your body is ready to handle can put your digestive system in a funk.
Another thing to look out for is to watch your fiber intake. I generally eat a TON of fruits and veggies loaded with fiber. Pre-race, loading up on fiber can be just as bad as eating too much pasta … maybe worse! Registered Dietitian Tara Gidus recommends you “cut back on those foods three days before a major race.” This doesn’t mean you cut everything out those three days – just reduce the amount of fiber based on your regular daily intake. For me, I eat about 2 cups of veggies a meal so I chose veggies with less fiber and cut it to one cup a meal those 3 days.
The final and biggest mistake new runners make is trying something new. That’s why I recommend you base your fiber and carb intake off your current diet and I don’t just straight out tell you how much you should have. New diets, new products, even new running shorts should all have a trial period before the big day. Don’t decide the morning of that you want to try some new protein shake made for runners. It’s the unwritten law – stick to what you know.
My run itself went great!!! My goal was to keep running or jogging the whole time, no stopping. Last time I didn’t train and wasn’t ready at all, so when walked for a bit I couldn’t get back up and running. That was not going to happen this time. I also made sure I had good shoes, my KTTape and everything else I mentioned in my last RunDisney blog post. When I was running, I just kept telling myself “mind over matter” and thought about how I just spent around $200 for this race so I better not disappoint myself. HA! I shed 30 minutes off my last time and finished with 3:03:26. I call that a win!
PS – Seeing that it was the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, I thought I’d be original and dress like Tiger Lily. You like? (and you can barely tell but that IS a feather in my hair)
UPDATE(4/9): Just found out that the runner wearing the Fireside Girl costume next to me has a blog too! It’s a small world! I shared my post on one of the Tinkerbell Half Marathon Runner’s Facebook groups and Patty from Margaritas, Miles & The Mouse commented that it was her.
Healthy Egg Salad Sandwich
| February 19, 2013 |
I was really craving an egg salad sandwich this weekend. Egg salad used to be a staple in my lunchbox. But I am definitely the type that wants is super creamy (aka covered in mayo). I also am not the type to sit there and stomach fat free mayo. Seriously? If you don’t like it, why eat it at all.
So back to this weekend. I decided to try a few things and see where it took me. Firstly, if you try to limit the mayo to only a teaspoon or so, it’s kinda dry. Does not satisfy a craving for egg salad what-so-ever. Secondly, never swap the mayo for cottage cheese. It’s kinda gross and lumpy (unless you’re really into cottage cheese then I guess you could try it). Thirdly, if all you used to add to your egg salad was mayo and S&P, then you will also learn that after swapping the mayo for a healthier alternative, you will need to add a little more than plain salt and pepper.
Finally, I was able to satisfy my craving and I am IN LOVE with my recipe (not to be tooting my own horn). I used Greek yogurt! The texture is thinner than the fatty-mayo version, so if you’re packing it for lunch, you might want to put it in a Tupperware and assemble your sandwich when your ready to eat to prevent the bread from getting soggy. But it’s really good. My boyfriend was skeptical (he’s not a healthy nutty like me), but even he liked it!
Healthy Egg Salad Sandwich
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 2 1/2 tbs plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 tsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbs chopped celery (about a 1/4 of a stock)
- 1/2 tsp chives
- 1/4 tsp (a pinch) of salt and pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 slices, bread of your choice (I used whole grain wheat bread)
Directions
Mash the hard boiled eggs in a bowl using a fork. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and spread it on your bread. Easy peasy 🙂
(Next time I’m gonna try toasting the bread and see how that comes out.)
A Kale Salad Recipe and Dr. Andrew Weil’s Lecture
| January 29, 2013 |
I’m a HUGE True Food Kitchen fan: food made with purpose and with intent that goes beyond flavor. Food that’s rich in nutrients and good for you. A good friend of mine that introduced me to this restaurant invited me to go hear Dr. Andrew Weil (the founder of the restaurant) speak. WHAT? How could I turn that down? Plus, he would be available to sign my copy of his cookbook after the show. Bonus points!
He spoke about so many things at this lecture I don’t even know where to start. It’s almost hard to pick and choose what to write about in this post. So I am going to pin point what had the biggest impact on me or what I personally found most interesting (and of course I will share the secret to his Kale Salad recipe).
Not only is Dr. Weil responsible for True Food Kitchen, he also has written numerous books about health and happiness. Many people in today’s society see happiness as being associated with luck or wealth. He believes “contentment is integral fulfillment.” What I took from this was not that we shouldn’t strive to better ourselves and reach for our goals, but to be able to stop and look our own life and say, “I am happy.” Sure, there are a lot of things I want to do and accomplish that I haven’t done yet, but it doesn’t mean I’m not content. Ultimately, being happy and content with your present state will only help you live a better life physically and mentally helping you to achieve those future goals.
During his seminar, he gave us a breathing technique to help with anxiety and stress. I tried it and it really does have a calming effect. It’s recommended to do no more than 4 sets of the exercise in one sitting.
- Place your feet flat on the floor. Back straight. Your tongue should be touching the roof of your mouth.
- Breath in through the nose for 4 seconds
- Hold for 7 seconds
- Breath out through the mouth (forcefully) for 8 seconds
And finally, I know this last part is random but I can’t help but to point this out. Leaving the lecture, one thing I found funny was the amount of people taking the elevator. After listening to an hour or two of Dr. Weil talk about being healthy and eating and exercising and all this good stuff, you would think that there would be an influx of people opting for the stairs…nope. I know our seats were more than a few flights up the stairs but seriously, such an inspiring speech I would think would make more people consider stairs as an option. Especially because going down is always easier than the climb up.
True Food Kitchen’s Kale Salad (with a few modifications)
- 1 bunch of kale
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/8 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, mashed
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- pinch of red pepper chili flakes
- 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
- free range organic eggs (optional)
Directions
To prepare the kale, wash very thoroughly in cold water. Seriously, wash it good: One time I got kale from a farmer’s market and you know it was freshly picked when there were these little green bugs in there. Completely safe but still, you don’t want to eat those. Then slice the kale along the stem. The stems can be tough to eat so when eating raw kale, it’s normal to omit the stems from the recipe. Slice the leaves in smaller bites to your preference.
In a salad bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and chili flakes. Add the kale and toss until evenly coated. Let the salad sit at room temperature for 10 – 30 minutes. (That’s right! This is the secret. There’s something about the lemon and salt combo that pulls some of the bitterness out of kale according to Dr. Weil.) Then add the grated cheese and toss again. Serve into individual bowls. True Food Kitchen’s recipe calls for 1 tbs of toasted whole wheat bread crumbs which they tossed in with the cheese. I omitted this to be gluten-free friendly and I also try to avoid extra carbs when they can easily be excluded.
Pan fry an egg using some of the leftover salad dressing. I did mine sunny-side-up but you can prepare yours how you choose. Then slide it out of the pan onto your salad. The egg is something I added to the recipe, not served at True Food Kitchen. I personally like salads as a meal and thought it needed some additional protein (and eggs are my favorite). I am sure hard boiled eggs wouldn’t be half bad either if you are taking this as a packed lunch.
1. Kale is low in calories, high in fiber and very low in fat. One cup of kale has only 34 calories, 5% of your daily fiber and 0.5 grams of fat.
2. Kale is high in iron. Per calorie, kale has more iron than beef. Iron is essential for good health. Iron deficiency is a leading cause of anemia, common in the vegan and vegetarian communities.
3. Kale is filled with Vitamin K and other antioxidants. Vitamin K and antioxidants, such as carotenoids and flavonoids help protect against various cancers.
4. Kale is great for cardiovascular support. Adding more kale to your diet can help lower cholesterol levels.
5. Kale is high in calcium. Per calorie, kale has more calcium than milk.
Source: Livestrong
Adding Guiltless Flavor – Yellow Bell Pepper Salsa Recipe
| September 11, 2012 |
Welcome to Nom Nom Crunch! For my first recipe, I thought I’d share something that represents me a little bit. Being Mexican, there is never a lack of salsas or hot sauces in the house. Tangent: When I moved into my first apartment in college, my mom told me she stocked my pantry with food. Later, when I went to the pantry for a snack, low and behold Costco-size tortilla chips, hominy, and refried beans filling my pantry shelves top to bottom. My room mate laughed it off and said I’d have to teach her how to cook, but I was thinking she probably hoped beans didn’t give me gas. HA! Back to my recipe, I love salsas and hot sauce. I put it on basically everything, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Now to the recipe. I subscribed to a local organic farming delivery service called Farm Fresh To You and got my sample box in. I came across these chili-like vegetables and decided to make salsa. After they ripened I could definitely see they were normal bell peppers, so let me introduce – Yellow Bell Pepper Salsa.
Yellow Bell Pepper Salsa
- 1 White Onion
- 2 Large Tomatoes (or 3 Roma)
- 2 Yellow Bell Peppers
- 1 Bunch of Cilantro
- 1/4 cup of Chopped Jalapeño (one small can)
- 1 Lime
- 2 tsp Chopped Garlic
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
Directions:
Finely chop all produce (excluding the lime). Add all ingredients into a bowl, squeezing the lime over the top. Don’t be afraid to get a little pulp in there. Toss until all ingredients are evenly mixed together. Optional: I like my salsa pico de gallo style. If you like yours more liquid-y, instead of chopping, throw it all into a food processor (it’s actually easier that way).
Adding more colors and flavors to any topping is great! Ever hear people say “eat the rainbow?” I like to follow that rule. Don’t limit your salsa recipe to just tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Yellow bell pepper has vitamin A and C and even fiber, which many articles say help fill you up. So experiment chopping up your favorite veggies and add to your salsa. One last thing about salsa: flavor without the guilt! Zero Weight Watcher points and unlimited on the Jenny Craig plan! So add it to anything that you think needs a bit of flavor.
