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! 

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.

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

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