Friday, December 23, 2011

Hello Beaches and Sunshine!

I'm leaving with my family tomorrow to go on a cruise around the Bahamas and I'm totally psyched! We're flying out to Miami tomorrow morning and then boarding the cruise ship.
Sadly, wi-fi aboard the ship is $2 per MINUTE, which means I'm not going to be able to post the next week unless by some miracle I find a cafe while we're onshore that has free wifi. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
If that miracle doesn't happen, I'll be positive to post a super long post about it once I'm back from my trip. Be sure to stay tuned and check back!
Gotta go pack my bikinis now!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Last-minute holiday recipes for the procrastinator

I've said it time and time again- I am a procrastinator. Not to say I'm proud of it, of course, although sometimes it does feel like quite an accomplishment to sucessfully pull together a last-minute project. So obviously, I put off all my holiday wrapping and baking until the night before I need to have it done. Oops.
Not to fear however- here're two go-to treats that each take about 15 minutes to make, and will be thoroughly appreciated by children. Plus they're relatively mess-free, so if you're really running late you can whip them up in your party outfit right before you leave. (Not that I'd ever recommend piping chocolate in Lanvin.)


QUICK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES:




RECIPE:
*3 cups of chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
*Any topping or filling of your choice- I mixed in some failed toffee that had stuck to the pan and topped it with almonds. Crushed candy canes, walnuts, and jam are all great. You can pretty do whatever for this one.

PREPERATION:
1.) Melt chocolate in microwave for about 1 minute, then mix in filling (optional)
2.) Microwave for another 30 second and stir well
3.) Pipe onto greased cookie sheets, or do as I did and just drop by heaping spoonfuls.




4.) Let chocolate set for 30 seconds and then press topping onto each. Chill for 30 minutes; if you're really pressed for time, pop then in the freezer and you'll be good to go in 10.






PEANUT BUTTER M&M COOKIES:





Simply use this 3-ingredient peanut butter cookie recipe and roll dough into small 1-inch balls, then press an M&M into the center of each.





Monday, December 12, 2011

Banana Orange "Sunshine Smoothie"




I don't know about you, but I start longing for beaches and sunshine approximately 3.5 days after the first snowfall. Honestly, I am a tropical weather girl. In my perfect world, 1 week of fluffy light snowfall a year (ideal for skiing!) is enough. Fall is romantic and summer is bright, but winter and spring are just cold, slogging affairs that drag on and on and on. Plus the weather outside today is gloomy and dark, a strangely wet day for the beginning of winter.
So as another pick-me-up (I seem to require a lot of those lately) I made myself a banana-orange smoothie, also largely due to the fact that bananas and oranges are the only fresh tropical fruits I have on hand right now.




RECIPE:
*1 ripe banana, roughly sliced
*1/2 cup milk
*Juice of 1/2 a fresh orange
*3-4 ice cubes



PREPERATION:
1.) Put everything in blender and blend on high for about 10-15 seconds.



2.) Garnish with wedge of orange if desired and serve.




Saturday, December 10, 2011

Easy Holiday Sugar Cookies drizzled with chocolate and almonds




My little brother was apparently craving some basic sugar cookies last night, so we embarked on a late-night baking session. It was really nice to spend some (though slightly rushed) time with him, and I kept everything super basic as per his instructions.
You see, my little brother is a super exact person who at age ten has the meticulousness which makes him obviously destined for some anal profession such as dentistry or accounting, not to say that's a bad thing or to bash on those highly respectable professions since I'm sure I'll be grateful for his dental services in my old age.






These are just your basic sugar cookies which you can either keep simple or go all out and use the recipe as a base for add-ins such as chocolate kisses and pretzel bits, or frost them. I drizzled the top with chocolate and sprinkled on some chopped almonds.
Either way, this recipe is a super easy one that takes only about 15 minutes total to concoct and is also perfect for tackling wayward cravings.

RECIPE: (from allrecipes.com)
*2 3/4 cups flour
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*1 cup butter
*1 cup sugar
*1 egg
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract





CHOCOLATE AND ALMOND TOPPING:
*3 cups of chocolate chips, melted
*About 1/2 cup of almonds (might be less; that's just a guesstimate), chopped

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2.) Sift together dry ingredients
3.) Soften butter and cream together with sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix in well with the dry ingredients
4.) Roll dough into balls and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden. Set out to cool on wire rack.





5.) When completely cool, drizzle with chocolate and top with almonds.







Thursday, December 8, 2011

Thursday Pick-Me-Up

Thursdays are such a downer for me. It's getting towards the end of the week with Friday in sight bring promise of the relative freedom of the weekend, but it's NOT Friday yet and the week just gets so tedious.
So from now on, every regular Thursday I'll be posting a list of three of my accomplishments this week so far, as well as one little thing in life that makes me happy.

Of course, a post is just not as good without some pictures, so here's some photos of Lulu to start us off:

(BTW I spent quite a bit of time chasing her around trying to get these photos, since she obviously didn't learn "stay" very well in doggie school.)


Another blurry picture of her playing ninja!




Anyways, here are some things I accomplished this week:

1.) Ran 5k last night
2.) Brushed Lulu
3.) Got 100% on a pop quiz while forgetting to study the night before

Something that's making me happy right now:

*It's orange season! Don't you just love the smell of fresh, tangy citrus?


Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Granola bars: turned into an awesome pre-workout snack/breakfast!




This is hands-down the simplest, tastiest, and best granola recipe I have ever tried. The saying "the best things are simple" clearly applies to this case. Yum. I've been looking for a granola recipe that's simple and has more of an earthy/oaty taste, and this is it.
It's a great recipe if you (like me) don't have any rice crispie cereal on hand and need a super nutritious and non-processed yet satisfying snack.

They're a great no-bake option as well- just press dough into pan and refridgerate for 60 minutes.

You can add dried fruit, chocolate chips, wheat germ, flaxseed, nuts, other seeds, and such to your granola bars to your taste. I added some wheat germ and chocolate chips, since in my world everything's better with chocolate!






RECIPE: (from howsweeteats.com)
*4 cups rolled oats
*1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped
*3/4 cup natural peanut butter or sunbutter, melted
*1/2 cup brown rice syrup (I used honey and it works gorgeously)

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2.) Mix all ingredients together and knead until fully incorporated. You may need to add a bit more honey or peanut butter depending on what you added into the granola bar
3.) Press dough firmly into greased pan and bake for about 25 minutes
4.) Take out and let cool





Also...

I crumbled a bar onto half a cup of low fat plain yogurt and added some raspberries and blackberries. Drizzled it with some honey and voila! The perfect pre-workout snack!





Just looking at this makes me happy ;p





Monday, December 5, 2011

Avocado Almond Crostini



This is a delicious and easy party appetizer, and one of my favorite post-run meals. The nuttiness of the almonds and olive oil really pulls together the whole thing, and the almonds give it a little crunch.
It's a bit like guacamole on top of a slice of toasted baguette, but I am quite proud of myself for coming up with the addition of nuts- again, it really pulls the whole thing together.

RECIPE: serves about 10 slices
*1 ripe avocado
*1 teaspoon lemon juice
*1 teaspoon garlic powder or grated garlic
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*Pinch of pepper, to taste
*About 3/4 a baguette
*1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
*About 20 raw almonds, roughly chopped (roughly in half)

PREPERATION:
1.) Slice baguette into 10 slices
2.) Lightly drizzle with olive oil and toast for a few minutes on both sides until just golden
3.) Dice avocado but don't mash until guacamole consistency




*Mix in the pepper, salt, garlic, and lemon juice, being careful not to over-mash the soft avocado
*Dollop about a teaspoon of avocado onto each slice of baguette
*Garnish with chopped almonds and serve!






Saturday, December 3, 2011

Day 3: Final day

It's the last day of my prehistoric-inspired living, and I'm proud to say I have not let a bite of anything containing sugar down my throat. I did lick a cookie once out of sheer desperation but immediately dropped it and it was devoured by the ever-alert Lulu.

BREAKFAST: Snacked on a pear, an orange, and a bit of whole wheat baguette with canola oil while waiting for my family to wake up

LUNCH: Then brunched on some salt-boiled duck and lettuce boiled in the duck stock. Have I mentioned my immense love for lettuce or cabbage in soups and stews? There's just something about the crunchiness and the way the leaves hold in liquid and flavor...
Anyways, I had a few bites of that as well as another couple pears which I downed like candy

DINNER: Hand-pulled noodle soup with potatoes and tofu in it. A few chunks of leftover duck, two pears, and a handful of almonds.

OBSERVATIONS: Amazingly, I've been eating wayyy more than usual since I've cut out sugar- I guess my body needs the calories it usually gets from chocolate and cookies. But that's questionable, since I've been working out a lot harder this week as well so the increase in my intake may be due to that as well.

Overall this was an interesting experience, though I'm feeling a bit bloated from all the fruit I've been eating. Hope all of you who did this detox with me made it through three whole days of cave people food.

I'm already planning what I'm going to make tomorrow to break my sugar fast... y'all should look forward to some decadently amazing confections!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Day 2: Drooling over food network

Okay, so I've made it through almost two full days without bread (I haven't had time to bake any and I don't trust all the preservatives in the store-bought sliced kind; but you can have whole wheat bread if you want or french baguettes since french bread usually has less preservatives than pre-sliced white bread) , sugar, or CHOCOLATE. Good lord. On the sugar front, I've got to say this is a landmark for me. Most of the time when I "swear off sugar forever," usually after consuming too much brownie batter, I cave in like six hours.
I almost couldn't resist temptation today when my sweet neighbor brought over some italian cookies in the afternoon which the rest of my family was relishing... I was literally sniffing the pastries and my tougue was half a millimeter away from dooming my integrity. However, summoning the willpower of Superwoman, (hey I bet she has to work out a LOT to keep in ass-kicking shape wearing that tiny bikini and defend wimpy chocolaholics like me) I managed to clutch at what was left of my dignity, grab a handful of almonds, and head to the treadmill to burn off all that energy while envisioning a giant creme crepe dangling in front of me.

Here's the (proudly sugar-free) intake of the day:

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal with an egg boiled into it. Some turkey and an apple. Snacked on another apple halfway through class.

LUNCH: A turkey salad (lettuce, carrots, celery, shredded leftover turkey) dressed with soy sauce and apple vinegar. Pear for dessert.

DINNER: Mom made turkey and carrot dumplings! (Like potstickers but boiled rather than fried) Such a pick-me-up after falling asleep twice in class. Had a few of those and three pears plus handfuls of almonds to pull me through my workout.

WORKOUT: 30 minutes strength-building yoga, 30 minutes intense cardio intervals on the treadmill- 6 sets of 4 minutes super intense running (about 7-8 on the intensity scale, 10 being you're running from me on a bad hair day) followed by 1 minute of brisk walking. 5 minute cooldown.

I'm watching a rerun of Top Chef: Just Desserts right now and I think mom is yelling at me for getting the couch wet with drool...
Only one more day left- hope y'all are doing well!
Here're some recipes I'm dying to try out after the sugar deprevation is over:

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Day 1: Mildly craving a cookie

This hasn't been a huge lifestyle change for me, but I definitely do miss chocolate. I'm a firm believer in that every meal should have dessert, and so my fruit consumption has gone way up. You'll also find I eat a lot of home-cooked chinese food, as in my house pretty much all the meals are Chinese food  (unless I'm in a mood for more adventurous cooking.) since we're a Chinese family!
Here's what I ate today:

BREAKFAST: Millet and wild rice porridge; a staple food of Northern Chinese, this porridge is a bit more like a thick gruel. Had a bite or two of dried meat (my mom makes it herself and hangs it in the garage) as well as some stir-fried corn in my porridge. Several handfuls of yummy ripe blackberries to slake my sweet tooth.

LUNCH: I packed some steamed turkey salad with carrots, celery, and romaine lettuce, dressed in a bit of soy sauce, olive oil, and apple wine vinegar, garnished with black pepper. A pear (one of my fave fruits!) for dessert

DINNER: This one's a bit tougher, since I volunteered at the community center and dinner was provided there. Of course, since they were serving pizza and catering leftovers, I ate beforehand. Had a whole box of blackberries (yes I know that is a helluva lot of blackberries) to staunch my sudden urge to empty a box of brownie batter, and a large portion of baked salmon and broccoliwith another pear for dessert. Ate at around 3:30 to 4:00, so after the volunteering event was over I had an apple and some almonds to power me through one and a half hour of dance.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

3-day Detox Sugar Cleanse before the holidays: Live Primal


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Loosen your belts and clear your fridge for leftovers; here come the sugar and carb onslaught of the holidays. I definitely believe in guilt-free indulgence (I never count calories- click here for more info on my food philosophy) and never count calories, but I also hate that slogging gross feeling you get after ingesting too much sugar and crashing from the high. As someone who has the world's biggest sweet tooth, I have experience in that aspect.
So join me as I cut out all sugars, artificially refined foods, and factory-processed foods for the next 3 days starting tomorrow! I promise you'll feel so much better afterwards and I hope this might even inspire you to live a healthier lifestyle with fewer processed foods when the cleanse is done.
It's hard, and I can't say it'll be pain free, but at least you'll feel better about indulging when the holidays hit and you accidentally have too many cookies.


RULES: (Inspired by the book Fat Cat by Robin Brande, with a few of my own adjustments)
1.) May only eat foods that prehistoric people ate; no yeast, sugar, or factory-processed foods such as saltines, diet pop, or coffee
2.) May eat the KINDS of foods prehistoric people ate, fresh fruits, nuts, veggies, unprocessed meat (they actually ate carrion occasionally before the discovery of how to use fire, but I'd rather not go there...) home-baked yeast-free whole wheat bread/pasta/pizza. Milk and honey are okay even though cows and honeybees weren't domesticated until many, many years later. Spices are fine to make your food palatable.
3.) May NOT count calories - but must make sure you have all the necessary nutrients your body needs, see below.
4.) I will be drinking organic green tea made from freshly brewed tea leaves, as to keep my sanity throughout my classes.

CURRENT EXERCISE:
Totally into intense cardio intervals and jump rope right now, squeezing in long walk/jogs with my dog when I can.
Intense cardio workouts 4 times a week with the less intense workouts the other 3 days including dance and tennis. When I have time, 30 minutes of strength-building yoga and a light three mile run makes for a nice weekend stress-releaser.

NOTE(S):
*I am not a certified health professional and if you have any specific needs regarding your body then please check with your doctor to make sure you're getting the iron, zinc, calcium, and other nutrients your body needs.
*Your body actually suffers physical/mental withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly cut back on artificial foods and go from a junk food diet to a healthy one devoid of sugar. I did a sugar cleanse once and god I'm telling you it was hell the first couple days. However; push through the first two days and you'll start feeling really energized and kinda like that annoying yoga-addicted friend who keeps preaching about the evils of sugar and somehow has boundless energy. (A.K.A. me on some days... only I love sugar too much to be an unbiased speaker on the topic.)

Thanks for your support and I hope y'all join me on these three sugar-free days before the holidays!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies





This is another one of my treats I make for Synergy, a recycling and volunteering club that meets once a week. The club flyer proclaims that there is food at the meetings, but when I went, there wasn't! So I did my best to remedy that by promptly bringing in pumpkin chocolate chip muffins to the next meeting.

These cookies were born from the mixed occurence of a craving for dark chocolate brownie batter and seeing my dog lick up peanut butter from her toy (one of those rubber thingies you put treats in and your dog tries to lick out.)
The chocolate cookies are absolutely divine on their own and if you're just going to make those, then only bake for 8-9 minutes (these overbake easily); if you're making sandwich cookies you're going to want them a bit drier and more biscuity so bake for 9-10 minutes.

Chocolate. Peanut butter. Heaven. ;p
Enjoy!

RECIPE: (from food.com; makes about 36 cookies)
*1 1/4 cups butter or margarine
*2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
*2 large eggs
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*2 cups flour
*3/4 cup unsweeted cocoa powder
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*About 1 cup peanut butter
*If you're making these on their own, add nuts or chocolate chips or whatever you want. Have fun with it!

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.) Mix together butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla
3.) Mix in the dry ingredients
4.) Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
5.) Bake for 8-9 minutes being very careful not to overbake; 9-10 minutes if you want them hard and biscuity.
6.) Set cookies out to cool on a wire rack
7.) After cookies are completely cool, place a dollop of peanut butter on the center of a cookie, top with another cookie and press down lightly to form an oreo-like sandwich!









Monday, November 28, 2011

Pumpkin Bread



Felt like doing another pumpkin recipe today, as a test run for my new camera and pretty much also because I feel like I'm the only food blogger on the entire blogosphere to not have done a post on pumpkin bread yet. Just telling y'all ahead of time: this bread is seriously addictive. I found myself consuming about half a loaf today, no joke. The taste of pumpkin is nicely rounded out with spices and sweetness.
This classic pumpkin bread can be made even better with cream cheese filling; will definitely add that next time!


RECIPE: (from allrecipes.com) yields 3 loaves
*3 cups pumpkin puree
*1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
*4 cups sugar (I usually only use 2-3 cups)
*6 eggs
*4 3/4 cups flour
*1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
*1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
*1 1/2 teaspoons salt
*1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnammon
*1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
*1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit
2.) Mix together vegetable oil, pumpkin, eggs, and sugar
3.) In a seperate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnammon, nutmeg, and cloves. Combine with wet ingredients
4.) Bake in 3 greased and lightly floured pans for 45 minutes to 1 hour; the bread should lightly spring back when pressed






Sunday, November 27, 2011

Holiday Detox Breakfast (a.k.a. the omelette that fell apart)



I have a feeling we're all going to be bloated and overstuffed by the end of the holidays.
It's inevitable- it takes superhuman control to resist another slice of your aunt's award-winning black forest cake or cream-stuffed strudel. As for me, I'll be gone on a cruise exploring the carribean during Christmas, where I shall regain my tan and my sanity after weeks of cramming for semester finals.
Anyways, it's always nice to start your Monday off right, so here's a super healthy omlette I made myself for breakfast while playing with my new camera. It always feels really nice to do something that you know is good and healthy for yourself, and it was a great start to my day even if it fell apart :(
Just looking at the un-greasy, brightly colored vegetables make me feel cleaner and less guilty for all the sugar and carbs I consumed during thanksgiving.

RECIPE: You can pretty much throw in whatever you've got at hand; cranberries, apples, tomatoes, onions, leftover turkey etc. I kept it simple and light and just used
*2 eggs, beaten
*1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
*1/2 a carrot, finely diced
*1/2 a stick of celery, finely diced
*A pinch or two of shredded low-fat skim mozzarella
*A pinch of oregano
*Pinch of salt and pepper




PREPERATION: (Come on guys, I'm sure you know how to make an omelette! But if you don't...)
1.) Beat eggs and fry in vegetable oil or use cooking spray
2.) Sprinkle in veggies and cheese on one side of omelette
3.) Sprinkle salt, pepper, and oregano
3.) Fold and flip.



QUICK NOTE:
I'm going to be honest with you guys- I've been shrinking the pictures I post due to the fact I had been using a really crappy camera which produced grainy shots. Now that I've got a new and much better camera, I can make all the pictures larger and let y'all get to enjoy seeing way better quality and bigger pictures! 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Going the untraditional route: Pumpkin Cheesecake



If there are two things that are abundant in my house right now, it's pumpkin and cream cheese. Seriously, I've got half a pureed pumpkin in my freezer and blocks of cream cheese in the fridge. So that said, you're probably going to be seeing a hell of a lot of pumpkin posts coming. I know most of you are probably as sick of pumpkin by now as I'm sick of Thanksgiving posts (tiring but necessary; that's why this post is focused towards the big T-day as well) , but I guess this is an experience that will make me reconsider butchering a gigantic pumpkin next time with only four people to feed.

Now let the Pie Rant commence: (NOTE: This whole commentary on pie will only lead to why I chose to make cheesecake instead of pie for Thanksgiving. Just warning you.)

Growing up in a family where no one really ate sweets, much less pie, my pie experiences were limited to having it at my friend's houses or at random adult parties where someone would bring a pie fresh from Costco or Target's bakery. Needless to be told, greasy, overbaked crusts and artificially sweet filling was generally the norm. I could tell you horror stories about a few run-ins with pumpkin pie I've had before, but I won't elaborate- let's just say I stayed far away from the stuff.
It all changed on a very special day...
Just kidding. But my opinion of pumpkin pie did change drastically when I had a slice of absolutely divine pie made by my friend's aunt, who was in fact a restauraunt baker. The crust was buttery, flaky, and it melted on the tip of my tougue, and for the first time in my life I had a filling that actually tasted like pumpkin without being overpowering.
However, though I now joined the enlightened side, I highly doubt the people at the Thanksgiving Party I'm having T-Day dinner at tonight will be as ardent an admirer of pie as I am, being that typically Chinese people don't eat a lot of baked goods.
So I decided to try my hand at making cheesecake. Don't worry- I'll still post a pie recipe at some point, maybe this weekend- but the Thanksgiving Dessert I'm making this year will in fact be the slightly more unconventional Pumpkin Cheesecake rather than Pumpkin Pie.
And so, with all that being said, here's how you create this not-too-sweet, deliciously light pumpkin cheesecake.

RECIPE: (From food.com)
*1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
*5 tablespoons butter, melted
*1 cup sugar (I only used 1/2 cup but that's just because my family doesn't like sweet stuff), plus
*1 tablespoon sugar
*3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*1 cup canned pumpkin
*3 eggs
*1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
*1/4 teaspoon allspice

PREPERATION:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2.) Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and 1 T sugar in a medium bowl






3.) Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter, but not so much as to turn the mixture into paste. Keep it crumbly.
4.) Put foil partway up the outside part of an 8-inch springform pan.
5.) Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the springform pan.You don't want the crust to form all of the way up the back of each slice of cheesecake
Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set aside until you are ready to fill it.
6.) In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla, and sugar and mix well




7.) Add in the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, and allspice and beat until smooth and creamy
8.) Pour filling into the pan
9.) Bake for 60-70 minutes; the top will turn a bit darker, but when it is done the center should still be wobbly
10.) Remove from oven and allow to cool
11.) When it has come to room temperature, put it into the refridgerator
12.) When cheesecake has chilled, take it out of the pan (or take off the side if you're using a springform pan)
13.) Cut and serve with whipped cream if desired, or garnish with walnuts and almonds.




Monday, November 21, 2011

Quick, Easy and Delicious Avocado Pasta



What to do with a ripe avocado?





This is a question I'm sure many of us have answered in different ways. Avocado goes great in salads, sandwiches, dips, facials... and pasta. Yup, that's right. Is it strange at all that I've never thought about using avocado in pasta before? The creaminess of it is almost like alfredo; it's a wonderfully healthy way to replace a cream or butter based sauce.
Of course, me being me, obviously the simple process of selecting the correctly ripened fruit has to go wrong due to some stupid mistake on my part. I'd left an avocado out on the counter to ripen a few days ago, and was going to make use of it today, but accidentally mixed it up with several other not totally ripe avocadoes and had already cut into it before I realized my blunder.
Oops.




But since the damage was already done and the avocado wasn't too green, I went ahead anyways and used it to make this pasta, with fabulous results (the only drawback being that my sauce wasn't really creamy since the avocado wasn't soft enough.)
Let's just say I'll be making this dish again and again and again... etc.

RECIPE: (from ohsheglows.com)
*1 medium-sized avocado, pitted
*Juice of 1/2 a lemon and lemon zest (once again I demonstrate my prowess for blundering and I chucked the peel before I could grate off some zest, so I didn't add this. I'm sure it would've looked pretty, though.)
*2-3 cloves garlic (I used 2 and it was definitely strong, so I would recommend using 3 only if you really like garlic)
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
*2 servings/6 oz pasta of your choice; I used angelhair pasta
*Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

PREPERATION:
1.) Boil pasta, about 8-10 minutes
2.) While the pasta is boiling, make the sauce by putting the garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil in food processor
3.) Add in the avocado and salt
4.) When pasta is done, drain and add sauce on top





5.) Mix well and garnish with black pepper and lemon zest


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Family dinner: Healthy Fried Rice



I made some very healthy fried rice for my family today, as I'm trying to eat healthier and amp up my workouts in preperation for the carb onslaught that is the holidays- I live a mostly hedonistic lifestyle and diet, but since I have an great affection for fresh produce and work out pretty much every day of the week (4 super-intense workouts a week and 3 less intense toning ones), the damage isn't too bad. I also happen to live in a family where I didn't even know what butter, hot dogs, donuts, or graham crackers were until I was seven or eight. However, I do try to keep to a mostly unprocessed diet when I'm not craving sugary carbs too much, so here's a healthy recipe for delicious restauraunt-style fried rice!






RECIPE: (Serves 6)
*2 cups of brown rice
*1 cup of shrimp, roughly chopped
*2 cups of broccoli, steamed
*2 teaspoons soy sauce
*1 teaspoon salt
*Pinch of black pepper, to taste
*1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely diced
*1/2 an onion, roughly chopped
*1/2 a tomato, roughly chopped
*3 cloves garlic, finely diced
*1 teaspoon lime juice
*1 tablespoon vegetable oil






PREPERATION:
1.) Prepare rice according to instructions on bag or cooker
2.) Steam broccoli, prepare and chop all the vegetables
3.) Bring water to a boil and cook shrimp



4.) Stir fry rice, vegetables, shrimp, and other ingredients in the vegetable oil for about 3-4 minutes or until nicely mixed
5.) Turn the heat to low, put lid on, and let steam for another 10-15 minutes, occasionally stirring to
make sure it doesn't stick or burn