Vegetarian Recipe 3: Crack-a-dillas

I'm going to save the trouble of explaining to you why I haven't updated in 6.7 billion years. It might have something to do with the fact that my life has been 98% more complicated than it was when I started this blog and I cannot seem to keep my head above water long enough to write about my diet, take pictures of all the meals that I create and then write something lengthy and witty about them. It's not that I don't love doing that. I love to talk about the new ways that I find to eat well. However, it's a bit of an operation to do all of these things well and I am not really much of a half-asser. So here I am returning to you with not much credibility under my belt since I can't seem to keep any of my promises and not much promise for the future. But I am damn well going to try.

I tend to make lists for myself and then either shred them up with my lack of motivation or rearrange them so that they no longer resemble the original goal. This is what I have done for my blog. I have made a very fancy little list that maps out the titles and subjects of each entry for the rest of the month of May. This list has a little more promise than my "cleaning house" list. One, because I'm currently out of school and have nothing to do besides sit around the house, talk to my stuffed animals and watch Food Network. Two, because I will probably use this blog as a procrastination method to put off the cleaning house list to a later date. But again, I can't make any promises that I won't find something much more entertaining to do other than write this blog....like build a log cabin out of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Today is Monday so that means that I have to do something vegetarian. I say that so painfully, like I HAVE to, but to be honest it's not all bad. I could stand to put a little more green in my life and a little less red. I'm just not vegetarian material as far as lifestyle goes but having a good meatless meal a few times a week is actually really nice. In fact, this recipe that I have found for you is actually quite simple, tasty and fast. This recipe can be made with meat, but personally, I prefer it completely meatless. This is something that I make when I have just enough time on my hands to open the fridge and start tossing things in the oven. Usually on nights when I get home late from a night out, or I have a lot of homework or am just feeling lazy, this is my go-to recipe.

I found this recipe one night while I was surfing YouTube. Pre-current boyfriend era, I had no life. I know that's really hard to believe but I didn't really do much but attend school and spend a good bit of time at my apartment. YouTube swiftly became my best friend and connection to the outside world. Right at your fingertips there is a whole slew of home cooks that post videos onto YouTube showing you their recipes and techniques right there for you to watch. I follow quite a few cooks on the YouTube, however there is one man who has opened my eyes to a whole new world of quesadillas. His name is Michael, also known as Freitasex on YouTube. NO. His name is not Freita Sex. It's Freitas Ex. I was quite confused about that upon seeing his channel. I thought that I had found something dirty when really, YouTube just doesn't allow the usage of spaces in your username. So Michael is Freitas Ex....not Freita Sex.....moving on.

I'm in college so I am always looking for something ridiculously easy to do. So when I saw Michael making these quesadillas I knew I could easily do my own rendition of this. I've altered the ingredients just a little because I did not have all of those things that he used in my pantry. So I did what he said to do and "use whatever you like". The version that I created has been a favorite amongst boyfriend and I for as long as we have been dating. In fact, I cooked these for him on our second date and he hasn't left since! Because I don't have a picture for this entry (I know I fail at this), I am going to offer something better. I have attached the video of Michael making the quesadillas to this entry. So you can watch the original video and then read about how I made mine. I would also like to point out at this time for any vegetarians reading this entry, Michael does use a chicken breast in his video. However, the version that I have created is meatless. So this is just a warning.




Here is my rendition of Michael's Quesadillas in which I have affectionately nicknamed "Crack-a-dillas" for their addictive properties.

Ingredients:

2 6-inch flour tortillas
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons of no fat cream cheese
Red pepper flakes
1/2 cup Shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions chopped
Light sour cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lay out a baking sheet large enough to fit your tortillas. Spray one side of one of the tortillas with cooking spray generously and lay down on baking sheet spray side down.

In a mixing cup or bowl, combine the cream cheese with the red pepper flakes and mix thoroughly. You may add as much flakes as you would like depending on how spicy you like your quesadillas.

Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the oiled tortilla.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese evenly on top of the cream cheese.

Sprinkle the green onions on top of the cheddar cheese.

Spray one side of the second tortilla with cooking spray generously and lay it on top with spray side facing up.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until desired gooeyness and crispness is achieved.

Slice into four wedges and serve with sour cream. The sour cream is optional. You can also substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream.



As you might have noticed, I made a few alterations. Since I did not have the adobo chiles on hand (does anyone know where I can buy these, I need them for a different recipe?) I took his alternative suggestion and used the red pepper flakes. I am sure that this is not as tasty as the adobo chiles but I find that the red pepper flakes are just fine for me. I also opted to use just plain cheddar since I did not have any Mexican cheese mix on hand either. I used green onions instead of red onions (I had been cooking Asian meals that week that I first tried this so I had LOTS of green onions in the fridge). Although now that I go back and re-watch this video I think I will try these with the red onions. Delicious. I also used a much smaller tortilla since I am quite carb sensitive and have to cut back on my portions anyway. I did not use salsa because I am not a huge fan of it on anything other than corn chips and so I don't really buy it. But this is how I serve mine. I wonder if Michael will approve of my toppings? I wonder if adding sweet corn would be nice as well? As you can see, this is very versatile. I have to thank Michael however for showing me the red pepper flakes in cream cheese technique. I would have never thought to put cream cheese on a quesadilla. Fantastic idea Michael!

So how does it weigh in on the healthy factor? Upon looking at this recipe you might think it is quite indulgent and unhealthy. However, I am here to report that one quesadilla (4 wedges) is about 440 calories (sans sour cream). If that means absolutely nothing to you, I will say that when I was on the Aspen Clinic diet they told me that around 400 calories is a good ball park for a meal. So that is my rule of thumb. Most of the Lean Cuisines in the markets are around the 400 calorie ball park as well. Now some of you might be raising your hands and wondering about the fat content and you would be mostly right to say that this meal is high in fat, mostly because of the cheese. But it is also high in protein and in a healthy calorie range. I have been advised before by many dietitians that if you are going to count something, let it either be calories or fat grams. It must be either or. Things that are high in fat could be less calories and things that are high in calories could have less fat. Eggs are a good example of this phenomenon. Not many calories but a good amount of fat.

It is really difficult to count both things closely. What I will do is count calories closely and sort of keep an eye on the fat grams. There are some things that are blatantly wrong. Eating a fudge cake is BOTH high in calories and fat grams so that's a large no no. But having two eggs in the morning for breakfast is pretty high in fat grams but it also gives me protein and does not count for many calories. The cheese in this recipe is the same way. I used the no fat cream cheese so actually that has no fat in it obviously. The cheddar cheese will have a little fat but I only opted for 1/2 cup. Also, a key element in keeping this recipe healthy is not frying it. I did the quesadillas just like Michael did in the video, in the oven. This makes them baked and not fried reducing the fat and calories as well. I will also substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream in the future. While I was staying at my aunt's this past week I discovered Fage Greek Yogurt. If I didn't know the difference, I'd say it was sour cream. It's very savory and goes with a lot of things.

When it came around to Monday and I had to write a vegetarian entry, I immediately thought of these. Now vegan...I cannot help you guys. I'm leaving you on your own because I simply cannot cope with your eating habits BUT veggies...I hope you will try this one out and love it! Base credit for this recipe goes to Michael or "Freitasex" of YouTube. Check him out.

Eat, Pray, Love,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Weight Loss Blog 2: Behaving Badly

I will go ahead and quote my aunt Lisa (one of my few readers) for starters, "Now you're going to have to go back and tell everyone on your blog what you did". And she's right. I am definitely going to have to fess up to what's been done in the last few weeks.

I have been strategically avoiding the scale in my bathroom, trying to convince myself that it is "unhealthy" or wrong to weigh myself for it excites emotional problems and mental trauma and will basically set me back even further than I am now. I know in my heart of hearts, that this is a lie. A clever lie I have made up in order to not stand trial for the candies, cakes, sugary alcoholic beverages, and greasy fast food that I have consumed in the last few weeks. I was on Mardi Gras break gosh darnit! If that isn't a good time to eat crap then I don't know what is. Living in New Orleans can be SUCH a trial sometimes. A very....delicious and hedonistic trial. Except the whole point of Mardi Gras is to transition into Lent a day later, a Christian period of fasting and sacrifice. The mini Twix bar that I have just consumed moments ago can attest for the fact that I am not participating in Lent this year. Sorry Jesus. I'm a bad lady. I just wanted a little chocolate all right?

My original Lent sacrifice was going to be working out in addition to the walking to school everyday. Yeah....that has yet to happen. It's not that I don't want to...or that I am lazy...it's just that...I have been distracted by so many other things. So many many other nice things. For instance, the gorgeous hunk of man that walks me to school every morning, takes me on movie dates, and buys me sweets. Every time I look at my new boyfriend I think, "That's mine? How the hell is that mine? What did I do to deserve such a thoughtful, wonderful, smiley, sweet, gentle human being as my significant other?" And so I have been pleasantly preoccupied with all sorts of new relationship fun. It's not that my sweet boy doesn't support my healthy lifestyle. He does. He's offered to go work out with me, I cook healthy meals for the both of us, he's even offered to video tape a cooking show with me for YouTube and this blog in support of my endeavors. But the truth of the matter is....we're lazy. We like to watch movies on the couch and we like to...eat....and go out to places where we....sit. Neither of us are SUPER active people. Neither of us really...ENJOY working out. We'd much rather cuddle and watch television or something. And it's not like we're really any different than most people. MOST people would prefer cuddles and movies over...strenuous exercise. It's just that...on my own, I'm healthier. Because my boyfriend doesn't have a health problem like I do so he can drink soda and he can eat candy and I'm really....not supposed to. But if he's doing it...then I'm going to do it too. And that's my fault for having zero will power. I really do have...no will power. I need to work on that.

What I really need to do is draw on the lessons that I learned in my 10 month phase of being single and alone. I CANNOT let my significant other's actions become MY actions. I am my own person. I make the decision whether to eat the chips or not. I make the decision whether to drink the soda or not. At the end of the day, I'm still in control of my life even if there are a few more distractions. I just seem to be really good at getting lost in my relationships. Like..really good. I just have less will power when someone else is doing it. Temptation if you will.

I will gladly say that after writing this entry I DID weigh myself and I have stayed below 200 lbs. I haven't gained any weight...which is surprising. I was pretty sure the mass amounts of King Kake, daiquiris, party food, Wendy's, and chips that I ingested over the break would have done me in. But for now...I have been spared. I really have to work on this though, even if it is a little bit a day. Otherwise I'm going to look like a jackass on my own blog. And we can't have that now can we?

Here's to kicking into Lent a little late...

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Vegetarian Recipe 2: Asparagus Soup

Hello out there!

Crikey! It's been awhile. I would first of all like to address my absence in brief, so that everyone knows that I'm not a slacker and I've just been blowing everyone off. I will describe my adventures in this past week in detail in my Tuesday Weight Loss blog entry. But for now I will let it leak that I went on Mardi Gras break and behaved very badly. All right sickos...I'm not talking about showing my tatas at Mardi Gras parades, I'm talking about bad eating habits. I took a week and a half off to spend time with my family and there was a lot of...restaurant food...and very little cooking going on so there really wasn't much for me to write about. And THEN when I got back from Mardi Gras break I started...seeing someone. And when one is newly in a relationship, we tend to forget our duties and responsibilities and go frolicking in the fields of new found love. So while I have been hanging out on Cloud 9, my blog has been suffering. Badly. And I sincerely apologize for that. But hey, I have to live a LITTLE. If I spent my life in front of this computer screen I'd be pale and antisocial. But all that aside, I am BACK and excited to share with you some more Health Nut cooking adventures.

So in this recipe we're going to be talking about asparagus, a food demon that I'm still not 100% with. I'm not particularly in love with this vegetable and I have to admit that when I see it on my plate I don't get very excited. I usually save it for last, or push it around my plate a bit before I actually consume it. It's got all the wrong things going for it. There's only so many ways you can cook an asparagus. Blanched and drizzled with salt and olive oil...I've seen people put it in the oven to tender up...chopped in salads...the Japanese food industry makes good use of it by putting it in some sushi rolls...but honestly, asparagus isn't very creative. And it's not a particularly good flavor either. It's got that real....green flavor to it. There isn't much you CAN do to trick yourself. You know you're eating a think, crunchy, green vegetable and there isn't much you can do about it. So apart from having it served to me as an unexpected side dish at restaurants or having it in sushi rolls, I don't have much experience with the vegetable. And to be honest, I haven't really cooked with it before.

Many a time have I been strolling down the produce aisle at my grocery store and passed by the asparagus. A few times I have gotten a bit too bold and actually purchased this asparagus, only to later let it die and rot in my refrigerator for I honestly know not what to do with it. I have come to grips with the idea that I do this because I WANT to like asparagus. I WANT to like green vegetables and be healthy, but when the time comes to prepare the dish, I chicken out. Well those days are over. I SHALL NOT waste another cent on asparagus for I have been given the recipe to solve all my asparagus problems. This recipe was handed off to me by a Turkish friend of mine. She and I were discussing Mediterranean food and she had mentioned this asparagus soup. At first I didn't think too much of it because as I've said, I'm not a fan of this vegetable at all. But then I remembered the bunch of asparagus that I had very stupidly purchased a week previous, which were now going slightly soft and rotten under my irresponsible care. So I retrieved this Mediterranean recipe from her in order to make the best of my foolish purchase.

Soup is a great way to get in your servings of vegetables. I find that getting my fruit servings in is a lot easier than getting in my vegetables. Whipping up a nice soup is a quick and easy way to feed your cells and your soul AND to sneak in a few servings of green without having to sacrifice that taste or texture problem. I have tried this soup both hot and cold and it works well either way. So it is nice for the winter or the summer months. Personally I eat hot soup all year round even though I am ridiculously hot blooded and like to run up my energy bill with overages every time the weather even THINKS about getting hot.

Let's just throw out the recipe now shall we? I give full credit to my dear friend Crystal for this one! I am going to copy her recipe verbatim except I am going to change the measurements from metric measurements to US standard.

Ingredients (serves 6):

2 lb asparagus
2 oz butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 slightly rounded tablespoon plain flour
4 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup double cream or creme fraiche
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Prepare the asparagus by cutting away and discarding the tough, stringy white ends of the stalks, reserve 12 asparagus tips to garnish the soup, then chop the green parts of the rest of the asparagus into 1 inch lengths. Next, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat and cook the chopped onion in it for 5 minutes, keeping the heat low to prevent the onion from coloring. Stir the asparagus into the melted butter and onion, then put a lid on and let it sweat for about 10 minutes, giving it a stir now and then. Sprinkle in the tablespoon of flour, stir again to soak up the juices and add the hot chicken stock, a little at a time, stirring after each addition.

When all the stock is in, bring to simmering point, season with salt and freshly milled black pepper and keeping the heat low, let the soup barely simmer, partially covered, for 20-25 minutes. Now you need to let the soup cool a little, then pour it into a blender and blend in batches (a large bowl is helpful here). Taste to check the seasoning. Finally, stir in the double cream or creme fraiche and the reserved asparagus tips. Re-heat gently for 3-4 minutes and serve very hot in warm soup bowls or alternatively, cool and chill thoroughly before serving in chilled bowls.


Katie's Edits:

I want to say that I didn't really change much to this recipe. I was nervous making it since I have never worked with asparagus before and I didn't want to mess it up or screw up the flavor. The only real edit that I did was I used milk instead of cream. I'm sure the soup would be much tastier with the cream or creme fraiche, but not having either of those on hand, I went with milk. I would assume that the soup would be thicker had I used the cream, but for me it was just right. For those that are trying to watch the calories, it is probably healthier to use milk rather than cream, however, you're eating a vegetable soup...you can only calorie grub so much before it becomes ridiculous so you may use what you think is best for your taste.

Another thing I did that was a huge mistake, and now that I'm looking back on it, very stupid of me, was that I added salt. A lot...of salt. To be honest I wasn't even really thinking about it and I threw it in there almost habitually with the pepper not realizing that the chicken stock...has A LOT of salt. Please PLEASE if you're going to make this...DO NOT SALT THE SOUP. My soup came out very VERY salty. I tried cutting it with a bit more milk but it was pretty much ruined. I of course will still eat it because I do not mind such salt, but for those people who need to watch their sodium and can't tolerate salty foods should really REALLY avoid doing something as stupid as this. Who DOESN'T know that chicken stock is salty? Apparently I had a brain fart and destroyed my soup. So this is your fair warning.

Putting the salt issue aside, after trying this, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it tasted A LOT like broccoli cheese soup. But the funny thing is that I didn't add in any cheese. It just TASTES like it has cheese in it. Maybe asparagus isn't such a bad vegetable after all! It is a very delicious soup and can be served with a crusty bread if you're into that kind of thing. I am definitely planning on bringing this as my lunch to campus one day, maybe with a half of sandwich or like I said, a piece of bread. A very simple and delicious dish that I hope you try!
Thanks, MANY thanks, to my friend Crystal for passing this on to me!

Best Wishes,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Healthy Recipe 2: The Katie Roll

I have to be honest with everyone, this was a completely impromptu entry. I had QUITE a few recipes that I could have picked from honestly, but this week I pretty much managed to exist on a completely different plane than everyone else. This week has been one of those weeks where I just completely checked out and didn't feel like doing anything. So when the thought came to my mind that I needed to eat tonight, I decided that I was going to be ballsy and make sushi. I know...completely out of the blue right? Now...sushi is something that takes a really long time to learn to make right. I mean in Japan, making sushi is like an art. You don't just buy ingredients at the store and be like "I'm going to make excellent sushi tonight", like I did. I once heard that learning to make the sushi RICE takes 7 years to perfect. For me, tonight was my first go and I really have to say, I'm impressed with myself.

I mean of course it's not restaurant quality. If you want restaurant quality then go pay $15 per person and see where that gets you. I mean I barely have enough money to support my grocery bill so I really can't afford to be hauling off to a sushi place every week to get my fix. So I purchased some nori (toasted seaweed. Comes in sheets. It's the greenish black wrap in most sushi rolls) and some more crab stick, and I just so happened to have a little tiny bit of cream cheese left and randomly enough...some asparagus....and I threw this together. I call it...the Katie Roll! Ok I'm sure that this has been made before and has been called something else. But the sheer ghetto-ness of this roll makes it a Katie Roll.

Let me just tell you how to make it since this might take some explaining. It's my own recipe, I didn't get it from anywhere...I just kind of made it up on the spot with what I had in my pantry.

Ingredients:

1. Nori, you can find this in the Asian section of your grocery store. Maybe not WalMart because WalMart is a fail in the selection department, but I got mine at Albertson's.
2. Sushi Rice, my brand is Botan Calrose rice. This you CAN find in the Asian part of your WalMart. You must use this kind of rice because it is very....sticky. And it helps hold together the sushi.
3. Crab stick, I found this at WalMart. I can't really explain to you WHERE I found it. It was in a case right next to the frozen fish section.
4. Asparagus
5. Cream cheese.

Directions:

1. First you must cook your rice. I did mine in rice cooker. 1 cup to 2 cups water and turned it on and let it do its thing. You can cook your rice in the traditional way as well, on the stove. Pretty much the same process except my rice cooker is faster. I seasoned the water the rice was cooking in with some salt.
2. After rice is cooked, put it into a bowl and put in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so that it is cooled.
3. Take the rice out and place your sheet of nori on a paper towel. Usually you would use a bamboo mat for this, but as I said, this was totally freestyle so I didn't have a bamboo mat. Paper towel worked fine.
4. Wet your spoon (it is important to keep wetting the spoon because the rice is like glue. It sticks to everything and will not cooperate if you don't keep your utensils wet) and spoon out some rice onto the nori, spreading it out evenly across the sheet. This is why it is important to cool the rice because if the rice is too wet and hot it will disintegrate the nori. You want your nori to have a nice layer of rice on it.
5. Place your crab stick on the side of the nori closest to you. If your crab stick is long and fits on the nori nicely, leave it. If your crab stick is short, cut it in half so that it fits on the whole thing.
6. Cut the tips off your asparagus and place them next to the crab stick.
7. Now, block cream cheese would be ideal for this, so cut off a strip of cream cheese and set that on top of the crab stick and asparagus.
8. Now this is the hard part. Grab the paper towel and fold the nori over the ingredients to make a roll. Keep rolling until the nori meets itself. The rice should be sticky enough to adhere to itself, but in case it's not, apply a little water onto the seam of rice to make it stick.
9. Squeeze the roll gently to make sure all of the nori is filled.
10. Take a sharp knife and wet it. Carefully trim off the ends. You don't want to go hog wild with this because then you're going to break your roll. You MUST wet the knife.
11. Now, slice the roll into pieces. Remember to keep wetting the knife in between each cut. That is very important.

Well now the roll is done, but you may add some garnish to this. A popular sauce that people use often in sushi restaurants, at least here in America is Japanese Mayo. Or as my favorite sushi place, Yujin Japanese Restaurant calls it, "white sauce". Now I think that Yujin makes theirs differently, but maybe not....I have figured out by taste testing many samples of Japanese mayo over the years that it is made with mayonnaise, white sugar and sriracha sauce. Just put a dollop of mayo in a container, put a teaspoon of sugar and a squirt of sriracha, mix it all up well and you're cooking with gas. That's the sauce for the top of this sushi.

Now I think that this recipe is pretty healthy. I know what some of you are thinking, "Katie can't eat white rice". You're right. I can't. And I'm going to be paying for that later. But I love sushi so much and so do many other people who can indeed have white rice. So I wanted to post that. I didn't use very much cream cheese because well....I didn't have very much left. But you shouldn't use a lot anyway. This is not a cream cheese roll, the main flavor is the rice and crab with a nice crunch from the asparagus roll. The sauce, since it is made out of mayo and sugar is very unhealthy. So you can omit that if you want and have it plain. I had mine plain. I just drizzled it on top for the picture and wiped it off after! Haha!

I hope that this is a good recipe for you guys to try. If anything it is FUN to make. If eating sushi is not your thing then you probably won't want to use this recipe. But since it is very popular here...I thought it was worth a shot. Have a great night all! If you have any questions let me know!

Live Long and Prosper,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Weight Loss Blog 1: The Plateau

Jeez Louise, already one week into my blog and I've managed to be late on a post. I'm sorry guys. I got stopped along the way to "Blogville" by a nasty British Literature Midterm that exhausted me to the point that I could not write. Lame excuse I know, but exams take a lot out of you! This entry is not going to contain any recipes or tips so I suppose if you don't feel like listening to me rant about my weight loss experience then just...fail to show up at this page on Tuesdays. Because that's what we do on Tuesdays. Talk about my weight loss. However, I am not going to speak too much on the subject because I don't want to seem like I'm...bragging or talking too much about my own life.

I guess I should point out that my starting weight was 222 lbs. Yeah I'm not proud either. You don't have to tell me that it's bad. I can't really give you a definite answer on how I got that way, all I know is....that one day I came to the harsh reality that I was becoming really unhealthy. To be honest I'm glad that I caught it at 222. That was a good place to catch it at because I think that if I had let myself get up to 250 that would have been my point of no return and you were going to see me on Biggest Loser on prime time in a few years. All I can say is that, my weight gain was part because of PCO, part because of my eating disorder, part because I medicated with food and part because I'm a naturally very nervous person. Like I've said before, I had my diet change epiphany right before my ex left me, and now I am safely back of the eating healthy band wagon for 7 months.

Although, in 7 months time I've only lost about 22 lbs. Which is bad. And it's basically because I've become complacent. I've been able to maintain a weight of 200 lbs for 7 months. Which means that for 7 months I've been at a plateau. And you thought that I was such an expert on this healthy living thing. Haha! Barely. I am only just a student as you are. I can safely say that this plateau has occurred because I am not very good at working out. I hate it. I actually....I really can't think of anything I hate more than working out. I'm going to be straight up honest. I can only pretend to be some kind of health guru for so long before someone asks me about exercise. And honestly, I can't really say that I can give anyone any kind of guidance on that because my idea of working out on a daily is walking 25 minutes to school and walking 25 back. Which isn't BAD exercise. Doctors will tell you that walking is quite good for you and since I do it EVERYDAY except on weekends, I am already doing pretty good. I can probably say that walking to and from school has helped me lose that good 22 lbs and has helped me keep it off definitely. But reaching that plateau means that you're not doing ENOUGH to push you into more weight loss. And that's what I'm struggling with right now.

I suffer from severe clinical depression. I know it's not an excuse because there are plenty of people with clinical depression that somehow find a way to make it through the day. And I know I know, exercising releases endorphins and makes you happier...I know. Believe me. I've had a weight problem since I was 11. I've heard it ALL. But what most people who don't have depression don't realize is that, depression isn't something that just makes you SAD it is also a disease that zaps you of all energy and motivation. It's such a fantastical disease I can't really even explain it to anyone properly because they think I'm making it up. But I promise you, you're just going to have to take my word for it when I say that depression is completely numbing. There's that commercial on television, I forget for which medication, that says that people with depression have to keep "winding themselves up" to accomplish even the most menial of tasks in everyday life. That's so true. I have SUCH a hard time getting myself to get out of bed, take a shower, brush my teeth, put my make up on, and get myself dressed and fed in the morning that by the time I actually do walk that 25 minutes to school I feel like I've already done an entire day's worth of work in 2 hours.

So when I get home from school I literally cannot find the strength to walk much less work out. Everyday this week I have fallen asleep after school against my own will. My body just shuts down. Like someone just pressed the "off" button. I know it's like mid-semester and that's when things start getting hectic and don't really get any better until exams are over and it's summer time and that plays a huge part in everything too. I'm just getting worn out. I'm not comfortable enough to work out in front of people yet. There is a gym in my apartment complex that is widely used by the football players and Malibu Barbies of the area and honestly, I don't know where I fit in there. It's really embarrassing to walk in there and sit between Barbie and Ken with my inner tube belly. I've tried to do a bit of working out at home but I don't know too many things I can do at home. So I guess maybe what I should be doing is asking any of my viewers out there in Blogville if they know of some good at home work outs that I can do? If someone mentions yoga, I'm going to scream. I am horrible at it and I don't think it's for me. Thank you very much. So any suggestions besides yoga? Thanks very much.

So that's my short little entry about how I am going with my weight loss. I can't imagine anything being much different next Tuesday but we'll see!


Eat Pray Love (and exercise),

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Vegetarian Recipe 1: Black Bean Burritos

Seeing as it is 2 in the morning and will probably be close to 3 once I have this entry "publish ready" to my satisfaction, I am going to attempt to be brief. As has been commented before, I tend to be long winded. And as much as I find that to be one of my many charms, some people find it to be....overdone. I would like to comment that I am very passionate about this subject and rightfully so since I am writing an entire blog about it. If I weren't going to write much then there might as well be no blog. If all I was to do was copy and paste recipes into this here text box, well then I would be criticized for being too unoriginal or boring. Ah the critics. You just can't escape them. Oh well would you look at that, I'm already breaking my "I'm going to attempt to be brief" rule. Ah me.

A little while ago, I guess it would be a few months by now, I considered becoming vegetarian. I wouldn't say that it was for moral purposes so much as it was a gross out factor. After I started cooking more and more things for myself I started dealing with raw meats, something that 4 years ago I was NOT comfortable with doing. I can say that biting my lip and "dealing with it" is my current tactic for cutting and handling raw meat. But I guess that after dealing with it I became gradually aware of WHAT meat WAS. I know that's really stupid because we all know what meat is. But if we don't cook, we don't really have to deal with it in it's....grossest form....right off the animal bone. I started practicing the ritual of offering up a prayer for the animals that have given their lives for this food just to fill a void in me after I realized that I was eating a big, thick slab of animal body. I can safely say that NOW I have given up most red meats. I don't eat ground beef anymore (which is killing me), I don't eat pork...actually come to think of it I don't really eat ANY kind of beef. Oh...something really dumb I did the other day....I stopped buying bacon because it was red meat. I told my dad this while we were in the supermarket. And he said "Since when do you eat real bacon?" And I thought about it and realized that I've been eating turkey bacon my whole life so....it was indeed NOT red meat. Silly silly Katie.

So lately I've been sticking to just poultry. Chicken and turkey. Oh and seafood. I eat fish and shrimp and crab. I could never really give any of that up. I love seafood so much. And for some reason I am still eating two of the cutest animals in my opinion. I think fish and birds are so cute. I know weird right? So I definitely don't think it's a moral thing. Anyway. Since I've cut out red meats I have to supplement my diet with something else so I've been exploring vegetarian recipes. Back when I was on Trail One of this blog I got a request from a vegetarian friend to do more veg recipes. So that is why I implemented "Vegetarian Monday" into my blog.

I'm going to be brief now and just give you the recipe. This was something that I also found on Allrecipes.com but I changed it up A LOT. However, I will post the original recipe here. The Allrecipe's user that this recipe belongs to goes by the name of "jessie". This recipe serves two, so adjust accordingly.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Black-Bean-Burritos/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

* 2 (10 inch) flour tortillas
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1 teaspoon minced garlic
* 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
* 1 teaspoon minced jalapeno peppers
* 3 ounces cream cheese
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in oven heated to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through.
2. Heat oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Place onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos in skillet, cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour beans into skillet, cook 3 minutes stirring.
3. Cut cream cheese into cubes and add to skillet with salt. Cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir cilantro into mixture.
4. Spoon mixture evenly down center of warmed tortilla and roll tortillas up. Serve

Katie's Edits:

Ok, so I made a few crucial changes to this recipe. I do recommend using a 10 inch tortilla because it helps portion better, but I used a 6 inch. So I made two little ones. I also added corn into the mixture instead of using jalapenos. You can use whatever you want really, it doesn't really matter. I just didn't have any jalapenos on hand. And I also used dried cilantro instead of fresh, I recommend using fresh. It's a much better flavor. The only real health edit I did on this was that I only used 2 ounces of cream cheese to cut fat. Anytime you have a lot of cheese there is going to be a lot of fat. I wanted the mixture to have a lot of flavor with the cream cheese but I also wanted it to be less fattening. It worked out just fine for me. Also, something I do whenever I make ANY kind of burrito, I take my George Foreman grill and I spray a little cooking spray on there. I put the burrito on the grill, seam facing down, and close it for a few seconds in order for it to toast and get a little crispy. This helps the burrito to seal so that all your filling isn't falling out. I made that trick up all by myself! *cue cheesy grin*

That's it guys! As I expected it's 2:55 now, so I really should be getting to sleep. I hope you'll like this first vegetarian recipe!

Eat Pray Love,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

PS: How'd I do for time?

Snacking Friday 1: Almonds Are Awesome

I wanted to speak about snacking first and foremost because I struggle with this a lot. I'm going to confess something right now.... I love chips. I love them. I love chips. All kinds of chips. The ones that are just lightly salted, the ones that are flavored, the ones covered in cheese. Thick chips, crispy chips, thin chips. I love potato chips. Sun chips. Corn chips. Veggie chips. I like puffy chips like Cheetos. I freaking love chips. Oh dear God do I love chips. But alas, chips are probably one of the WORST things you could eat. And most people eat them as a snack. But this is why they are not good snackable foods for ME. I can't just eat....a handful of chips. Which is a snack. No. I have to eat like the entire family sized bag of chips and then..even THEN if given another bag I could crack that one open as well. If left up to my own devices, I could eat three potatoes worth of chips. So really...chips are not a feasible snack for me because they become a full course meal instead of a light snack in my hands. Plus you know...generally chips are bad for you. Greasy, full of calories and salt. Potatoes are really supposed to be consumed in moderation. They're good to have in your diet, but alone they are a sugar. So imagine what deep frying them and drenching them in salt does for you. Exactly.

But I have to be honest. Snacking is difficult. Because it's a necessity to a healthy diet. Eating small snacks in between meals helps keep down overeating at big meal time and keeps your energy up throughout the day. Some people have to snack due to their blood sugar levels. But it seems that something has gone horribly awry in the snacking business. The other day I was watching television and I saw a commercial for the McDonald's "Snack Wrap". Oh yes. A piece of deep fried fused chicken parts with fatty sauce rolled into a carb is the EXACT way to go for a snack. Ladies and gentlemen that IS NOT a snack. If you take a stroll down the WalMart "snack aisle" it is heavily laden with an assortment of (my personal kryptonite) chips, candies, high fructose corn syrup products, crackers and sugar and chocolate covered goodies. When did any of THOSE things become an appropriate snack? When did any of this become the definition of snacks? I mean...I'm not saying that they aren't good. And I'm sure if you ate these things in moderation every once in awhile you're not going to die. But I like to classify these things as "treats". We need to learn to separate "treats" and "snacks".

So let's redefine a snack. A snack should be wholesome, temporarily filling (you don't want it to be like a meal), and gives your body energy. None of the pre-described items really do any of that. In fact they do the opposite. They are not wholesome, full of sugar and calories. They actually will often make you hungrier and crave sugar. And they tend to make you sluggish. So no energy there! So I definitely think that it's a worthwhile endeavor to talk about healthy snacking. So the very first snack lesson I am going to teach you is something that I thought I would NEVER eat.

Yogurt really isn't one of my favorite things in the world. It's kind of like granola. I really had to learn to make friends with it. Granola and I are way better friends than yogurt and I, but we get along. I know a lot of people think that granola and yogurt is a super healthy combo and IT IS. That isn't what I'm saying. But for me personally, I just can't warm up to the two together. So just this semester in my writing course, I was reading a magazine article that one of the girls had brought to class. The article was from a dietitian who was "sprucing up" people's diets. One woman proudly said that she had eaten a healthy parfait for breakfast and the dietitian told her that adding almonds instead of granola to your yogurt was a bit more healthy. Now. I LOVE almonds. I would say that almond is my second favorite flavor. It's one of my "flavorites" tehe! But I never really ate them raw. I have to say, that dietitian knew what she was talking about. The almonds with the yogurt are FABULOUS. They go with any flavor yogurt, even the fruit flavors and they add a very delicious texture and crunch.

Now if you don't prefer to eat yogurt, you can eat some almonds by themselves. You can add them to some dried fruits to make a trail mix as well. I will discuss dried fruits in length at another time. But this snack is full of protein and will keep you moving throughout the day. I like to buy the Yoplait cups (even though I'm kind of on the fence about them, again, that's for another entry) because they are a perfect serving of yogurt. I usually pour it into a small bowl and toss some almonds on the top. I don't like eating out of that weird shaped container. In fact, I just had some almonds with Yoplait's new Black Forest Cake flavor tonight. It was an excellent dessert before bed.

The one con to almonds is that they are very expensive. I was APPALLED to find out that a relatively small bag of almonds (the one picture above actually) was SEVEN DOLLARS. Why? I don't know the answer to that. I'm sure there is one, and if anyone knows, can they please inform me why almonds are mucho expensive? Usually in that situation I will attempt to buy the WalMart brand "Great Value". But even Great Value's almonds were through the roof! I was shocked. But I had to have these almonds. I made the sacrifice of seven dollars to get these almonds and so far they've lasted me pretty long. I try to use them sparingly until the price drops. But some people have a larger budget than me and can afford $7 for a bag of almonds. And I personally think they are a great investment. Hey...at least they were cheaper than the pistachios (TEN DOLLARS for ONE bag) Also, keep in mind that you want the PLAIN almonds. Not the "smokehouse" flavor or the ones covered in honey and sugar. That's just added calories. And I don't think that "smokehouse" almonds would go with yogurt....just saying.


I highly encourage any of you that are looking for a healthy snack to try this out. Please stay tuned until next week starting off with Vegetarian Monday.

Live Long and Prosper,
The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Product Review 1: Bear Naked Granola

Hello Hungry Health Nuts....and other readers.

I am so excited about this product review because I have A LOT to say about it. This is one of my staple items that I use in my healthy lifestyle and also, one of the very first healthy foods that I had to make friends with. I use the wording, "make friends with" because this was something that I had to learn to do when changing my lifestyle. Having come from a family that likes to eat out A LOT and enjoys their carbs, meat and potatoes, learning to like things like...salad and green beans was VERY hard for me. My mother even used to put bacon in our green beans, cooking them in butter and basically zapping them of all nutritional value. Welcome to America, everyone. Before I changed my lifestyle the idea of eating VEGETABLES was repulsive. Granola was inherently evil. And I think I know why. There are certain repressed memories from your childhood that never really go away. You forget the actual memory but the result of the trauma is still there. I speak of this as if it was a huge deal, but when I was a kid, my mother force fed me granola bars. My mother had a lot of bright ideas of what she thought was healthy. And she swore by granola bars. I don't think I disliked the taste or texture of granola bars as a kid...but I think after being fed granola bars in a desperate attempt to make me healthier (um Mom, get a clue..the bacon in the green beans was probably where the error was) I developed a distaste for them. I can remember my mother's voice. Me: "Mom I'm hungry". Mom: Katie...have a granola bar. *cue horror flick music* DUN DUN DUN! The idea of having a granola bar was absolutely horrifying to me. I think that it used to make me cry actually. So you can imagine....trying to get me to eat granola with THIS horror story under my belt...is a tough job.

I remember my first shopping trip to the grocery store after I decided to change my eating habits. I knew OF things that people ate when they were on a diet. I knew what you were supposed to eat, lots of vegetables, fruits, smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt (oh that's another one of my food demons that we will conquer in this blog) and....yes...granola. I think I stood in the cereal aisle for 20 minutes just staring down the bags of granola and "healthy" cereal. All I wanted to do was bolt down the aisle, grab my Coco Puffs and run. But no. I was dedicated. This was a mission for me. And I wasn't going to fail. I first picked up the Bear Naked brand because the company name made me laugh. Yes, I can admit to being a 6 year old sometimes. The word "pee pee" still makes me giggle. Yes, I giggled typing it just now. Bare Naked has a bunch of flavors of granola, a bunch of different combinations of flavors, types of grains, seeds and fruits. However my local WalMart thinks it's funny to only stock 3 different flavors. Thank God they stock the one that I eat otherwise I would probably go on a tirade of fury. I picked up the yellow bag (all their bags are different colors according to flavor) which I was immediately drawn to because it has blueberries in it. Now...blueberry ties with banana for my favorite fruit flavor. So anything blueberry is okay by me. The full name of the product that I buy is called Bear Naked: Peak Flax: Oats and Honey with Blueberry.

This product consists of (according to the website), oats, honey, dried blueberries and ground and whole flax seeds. Now for all you healthy food skeptics out there that are like "Oh you will NEVER get me to eat FLAX seeds," because you know, the word itself sounds tasteless and like something that you'd feed your pet canary...I am here to tell you that it is NOT a bad thing. I too, was skeptical. I too wondered, how can something like this even taste good? I am probably going to be eating cardboard. The very idea terrified me. But I slyly placed the granola in my basket and purchased it. One of the best decisions I have made in my healthy eating journey.

Texturally, it's not bad. I think that's a driving force behind what I like to eat and what I don't like to eat. Taste comes secondary to texture for me. If something has an off-putting texture, I will probably gag it up. And I was very worried that it would have a horrible texture. I can say now that it's not too crunchy, which is good, but it's not too chewy. The honey in this product gives it a perfect sweetness and a desired amount of chew. It softens the granola to where it's not too rough. The dried blueberries are simply wonderful. They do not skimp on the blueberries, they are generous from what I have experienced and that also gives the granola a nice chew. So the taste and texture are good. But how is the cost?

You know honestly, I know there are going to be some haters out there that say, Bear Naked is overpriced. I can't give you a real price on this because the price will vary from store to store. I believe at my WalMart it's $4 and something cents for a 12 ounce bag but don't quote me on that. That's a ball park figure. Personally, I don't have a lot of money to spend every month on groceries and it seems to fit in just perfectly with my budget. My ex-boyfriend went through this obnoxious hippie stage at the beginning of a relationship where he felt the need to eat only oats, seeds, some fruits, and cheese pizza. He went to the store with MY money and purchased all kinds of weird stuff to make our own granola. So my ex-boyfriend would probably say it was much more economically savvy to make your own granola. But I hate my blasted ex-boyfriend so I'm going with Bear Naked granola. I don't have time to sit there and "toast my own oats" wearing a pair of hemp pants and tye-dye bandanna. I have much better things to eat up my time with. I also find that one of these bags usually goes a long way. You don't have to really keep buying it unless you're going to be eating it every morning for the rest of your life. I eat this granola twice a week and I will tell you how I eat it.

My three favorite ways to eat this granola is plain; by itself, with some yogurt, or with some cow's milk or soy milk. The first way is good for snacking. If I'm going out somewhere that I know I won't be able to eat a meal for awhile I put some of this in a baggy and hide it in my purse for inconspicuous snaking later on in the day. The second way is good for breakfast and the granola goes pretty well with any flavor yogurt. I just tend to clog up the yogurt aisle at the grocery store gawking over how many odd flavors Yoplait can come out with. Really? Black Forest Cake? I think I might try that one with this granola. And since all the Yoplait flavors kind of taste the same (hey, just my opinion) the granola can pretty much work with whatever color of yogurt you like that day. Yoplait's Red Velvet Cake is a really off putting shade of red. Go buy a cup just to look at it. It's totally weird. My favorite way to eat Bare Naked Granola? With soy milk. Cow's milk works too, but Silk's Vanilla Soy Milk with this granola is Devine. I believe that this combo was the first meal I had after my ex-boyfriend left me. I remember storming in the house, screaming my lungs out and pouring myself a bowl of this stuff. I was just starting to go through this transition to healthy eating right before we broke up. Then I had my McDonald's binge and jumped back on the band wagon 4 months later. I remember sitting in front of the television watching Cake Boss with my Bear Naked granola and soy milk sobbing. "Oh oats, you are the only thing that understands me!"

Seriously guys, I can't say enough for this product! It is so delicious and I know if you like granola, you'll like it. Hey! Even if you don't like granola, try it! I didn't like granola until Bear Naked came into my life.

Also, I wanted to say something about my blog in general. I was a little bit iffy about what I would do for my Friday entry. I had thought about doing a FAQ thing, but I don't think that's going to work. I'm going to be doing a Snaking Friday entry because this is something that I have personally struggled with. Trying to find healthy snacks. Please stay tuned for tomorrow's episode!

Live Long and Prosper,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Healthy Recipe 1: Chicken Satay

Okay guys. I gotta be real. Going into this one I was a little nervous. A year ago I got up on my high horse and thought that I was going to learn to cook Thai food. That endeavor ended up being a flat out joke. I learned that, not only is cooking Thai food expensive, but half of the ingredients that these recipes require are not sold in the United States. Well that's a lie. They probably sell them by the shitload in California. Because you know...California does everything. But in the podunk down of Lafayette, Louisiana, we don't have tamarind pulp or lemon grass stalks at any affordable or obvious grocery store. Also, I realized that I was taking on recipes that were EXTREMELY difficult and were probably meant to be cooked in a 500 year old family heirloom pot, with the freshest ingredients from the local market by a really adorable, caramel colored old lady in the streets of Thailand. I am not a cool caramel colored old Thai lady and I live in an apartment with an electric stove. The only market we have around here is "Fresh Pickins'" and they do NOT carry fresh kafir lime leaves. Let's just put it that way. So my adventures in Thai cooking ended with a flop with only two recipes under my belt. Then I switched focuses. I started THIS blog, with the intention of teaching people to cook healthy. This was also a joke because at this time I was not very good at cooking. I mean, I knew the basics. Boiling water, making a roux, frying an egg, sauteing vegetables, flipping pancakes, pot + water + vegetables = somewhat of a soup....I was basic. Well then my boyfriend left me and I went through that you know...6 month grieving period where I didn't really eat anything but McDonald's and soup from a can. But something strange started to happen. After I moved into my new apartment with my bigger kitchen I began to be a little more adventurous with cooking. I started making up recipes and combos that were healthy and I started to develop skills. Yes, skills beyond the ancient art of preparing grilled cheese. A lot of times I would call my mother and ask her, "mother, how does one bake pork chops?" I was extremely curious. And I think I channeled all of my anger and depression from my breakup into my stove.

Recently, I have decided to meet with my old nemesis, Asian food. I have developed tactics to cut costs with Asian food that have so far, to my great surprise, worked well. These are tips that I will share with you now if you are interested in learning to cook GOOD Asian food. Tip 1: Keep it simple. If something has a name that you can't pronounce, leave it up to the caramel colored lady. She knows what she's doing. You don't. The first dish I ever made was Chicken Stir-Fry. It tasted exactly like take out and that was good enough for me. And it was a plus because it didn't have MSG in it. AND it was something that I recognized. Tip 2: Start your collection of Asian ingredients off a little at a time. Buy the basics. Soy sauce, curry powder, Sriracha sauce, and coconut milk. All of these things are relatively inexpensive but when you buy a LOT of ingredients at once it could add up. I JUST now added things like, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, fish sauce (I recommend that you do not huff this stuff, don't smell it, it'll knock your socks off...you can tell that I speak from experience), rice vinegar and red curry paste to my collection. I also buy nori once in a blue moon since I don't use it that much. But that's the beauty of these ingredients. They're Asian staples. You probably won't need to keep buying these things unless you cook Asian everyday of the year. It's like flour or a bag of sugar...unless you're a baker you're probably only going to need to buy those things once a year. So start your collection off slow. Buy the basics and then if you HAPPEN to be strolling by the Asian section of the grocery store and you feel like picking up some sesame oil or crab stick...do so. Tip 3: Learn to substitute. I have not been able to find lemongrass stalks ANYWHERE in Lafayette. California must be hoarding them all for themselves. I can't even find DRIED lemongrass, even at the super expensive local grocery stores. So this is what I have learned to do. For every stalk of lemon grass, grate in some lemon zest and squeeze in a tablespoon of the juice. This gives pretty much the same effect as having a lemongrass stalk in your dish. Also, if the recipe calls for kafir lime leaves, lime zest works JUST as well. When looking at recipe, if you see a spice that you don't know, Google it. Type in "substitution for..." and you'll usually get some good results. Do a little research and if you can't find a substitution, look to see how much of an impact this is going to have on your dish. For instance, I cannot make anything that requires dill weed until I find dill weed in this city. Because dill weed is such a profound taste that if it was omitted from the recipe, it would really mess it up. So I just don't make those recipes. But the other day I found a recipe that called for turmeric. I was really concerned because I was making curry and I didn't have turmeric. So I went online and googled "substitution for turmeric" and I found out that turmeric is usually used for coloring in most foods and that if I was using curry powder I probably didn't need to use it. So if you look a recipe and you're intimidated because it includes scary things that you don't recognize, go ahead and Google and see what you can find. Now if the whole recipe includes things that you don't recognize, this is probably one for the old Thai lady. You just can't do it because you're not 100 years old and you don't possess magic old Asian lady powers. If you're an old Asian lady reading this, you're probably on a massive ego trip.........you're welcome. And finally Tip 4: Do not be afraid. I think that those words were spoken once by the famous Julia Child. Oh dear God...this is kitschy. She's food blogging and mentioning Julia Child...cue film reel of the movie "Julie and Julia". No I'm not going to go into excessive detail about that woman because that movie really pissed me off to be frank. I am neither inspired by or pleased with that movie. The only thing I liked about it was that two of my favorite actresses were in it, Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I was pissed off to no end that Julia Child actually had the gall to be MAD at Julie for having her as her role model. Oh my LORD that made me mad. I think I actually stormed out of the room the first time I saw it and had to be severely convinced to watch the ending. But....I digress. Julia DOES have a good point. You really can't be afraid to cook anything. Don't be afraid. Cooking Asian food is actually REALLY easy. A lot of it is sauce + meat served on top of rice. I didn't really think of this until I went to my local Chinese restaurant (Shangrila in Lafayette for the win) and reviewed their menu carefully.

Today, I am going to teach you to make a VERY easy dish that I was impressed with if I do say so myself. It's called Chicken Satay. This dish hails from the Southeastern Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and the like. Interesting fact about satay: Satay is very popular in the Netherlands (says Wikipedia) because Indonesia was previously a Dutch colony. That's kind of the similar effect that chicken tikka masala has on Britain since India is a former British colony. Interesting stuff there. Well at least to me. Probably to no one else because I'm a complete food nerd. Moving on...

This recipe I obtained from AllRecipes.com (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who is looking for great recipes. It is undoubtedly my favorite website. I NEVER pay for apps for my iPhone or iPad but I have paid a total of $10 for two apps, the AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner for my phone and the AllRecipes.com Kitchen Inspiration app for my iPad. You KNOW they got to be good if I was willing to give $10 in apps to their company)
The author of this recipe goes by the AllRecipes username "Shannon :)". There is my credit for this recipe, so I do not own it.
Here is the link to the recipe if you prefer to use the website over my blog: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Chicken-Satay/Detail.aspx

Basically, here is the recipe. I calculated it to serve 2 but you can go to the link I've provided and change the serving size, the site will convert the measurements for you. That's a gorgeous feature to this site as well.

Easy Chicken Satay:


Ingredients:

* 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon coconut milk
* 3/8 clove garlic, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 5 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch strips
* 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon coconut milk
* 1-1/4 teaspoons curry powder
* 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon creamy peanut butter
* 1/4 cup and 2 teaspoons chicken stock
* 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons brown sugar
* 2-1/2 teaspoons lime or lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
* Salt to taste
* 4 (6 inch) wooden skewers, or as needed, soaked in water for 30 minutes


The Marinade:

Stir together 1/2 cup coconut milk, garlic, 1 teaspoon curry powder, brown sugar, salt, and pepper until the sugar has dissolved. Toss marinade with the chicken, cover, and marinate for at least 2 hours.

The Dipping Sauce:

Bring coconut milk, curry powder, peanut butter, chicken stock, and brown sugar to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and soy sauce; season to taste with salt.

Cooking the Chicken:

Preheat a grill for medium-high heat.
Thread marinated chicken onto skewers, then grill 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Serve with warm peanut sauce.


Katie's Edits:

This is where I will write out my edits to this recipe. Now having danced with Chicken Satay before, I know what can go wrong. In the pictures I have provided for this recipe, I have put up a WRONG picture and a correct picture. The wrong picture was from a year ago when I was trying to be a Thai chef and that chicken came out SO wrong. Here is the thing I didn't realize:

The chicken satay that I was cooking probably required a open flame grill. I mean like a BBQ pit or a "man's grill". So when they say to "cut the chicken into strips"...don't do this unless you are going to use an open flame. Because see the idea of chicken satay is to thread the chicken onto the skewer in a spiral fashion. This only allows the meat to cook all the way if it's on an open grill and everything is smokey and hot. If you're doing it on a grill pan on an electric stove, or even a gas stove, this is not going to work for you. The chicken will be undercooked. So this is what I did. I cut the chicken into equal sized chunks and threaded them up the middle onto the skewer. You can also cut it into long strips and thread it directly up the skewer so that it's flat on both sides. None of this fancy spiral thing if you're not cooking outdoors.

Second edit, go easy on the peanut butter. I personally think that this recipe has too much of a peanut butter flavor to the sauce and that's fine because peanut chicken is a very popular thing out East. But I wasn't too keen on how much of a peanut butter flavor this had. So maybe just add a little less than what the recipe calls for. Also take note that if you change the serving size on this recipe, follow the measurements that are in the ingredients list, not the measurements that are in the instructions.

Third edit, to make this dish healthier, don't use too much sauce on your chicken.
The meat is healthy on its own when served with a good fresh vegetable (I chose broccoli) but the sauce is a bit fattening. Peanut butter and coconut milk are very high in fat. So to make this dish healthier, do not go drenching your chicken pieces in this peanut butter sauce. I drizzled a little over the skewers of the chicken instead of using it as a side item on the plate.

Now to complete this dish, I made some garlic broccoli. The very first meal my mother ever taught me was Basil Chicken and Garlic Broccoli. When I moved into my first apartment, my freshman year of college my mother helped me set up my kitchen and gave me this first recipe to start off many that I would later learn by myself. Garlic broccoli is DELICIOUS, fresh, and extremely easy to make. So my credit goes to my mommy, Diann Foudriat.

Garlic Broccoli:

Ingredients: (serves 1)

1 cup of frozen broccoli (go for the whole pieces instead of the chopped)
1 clove of garlic
Splash of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Sriracha sauce for a little extra kick (and because it makes everything taste better)

Heat your pan on medium high heat and drizzle in a little olive oil.
Defrost your broccoli in the microwave (I use frozen vegetables a LOT because they are actually higher in nutrients than fresh broccoli from the produce section. This is because they freeze the vegetables right after picking instead of shipping them all over the country in crates. And frozen is cheaper).
Toss your broccoli in the heated skillet and stir.
Add in some minced garlic AFTER you've put in the broccoli. Garlic burns really quickly and that's bad. When garlic burns it turns bitter.
Season with salt and pepper and stir the broccoli and garlic for 3-5 minutes.
Serve with the chicken satay and drizzle on a LITTLE Sriracha sauce. Sriracha sauce is a sweet chili sauce that comes in a bottle with a green top and a rooster on the front in the Asian section of your grocery store. It is extremely spicy. Do not drench your food in this. This is a horrible idea. But a little bit on just about anything will bring out the flavor. It is also great for clogged sinuses haha!

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen. A really healthy dish that really isn't that hard to make. I hope that you try this one and let me know how you liked it.


Good luck!

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut

Starting Over

I think that by the time that my depression is cured, I will have written an entire cookbook. That's the assumption that I'm operating under and I'm going with it.

Over the last 6 months, I have met myself, hung out with myself, and become friends with myself, and finally, have fallen in love with myself. "Whoa now, Narcissus," you say. Look...I'm going to be frank with anyone who reads this, I have spent the last 20 years of my life hating myself to pieces. Looking in the mirror at someone I didn't know, catering to a man that didn't love me, and refusing to come to grips with my personality or who I am. I've been telling myself, "you're all wrong", for 98% of my life so far and I'm here to tell you that I've just made the big change. No. Not menopause. I'm only 21. I mean learning to like myself. Some people are the lucky ones. They come out drooling in their own self-love. Fine then. There are places for people like that in the world. But if you're anything like me, someone who it might take a little extra push to appreciate themselves, you know where I'm coming from. I'm not going to say that myself and I have a wonderful, romantic relationship. There are days when I just look at myself in the mirror and wonder why the hell God allows me to be alive. Those kinds of thoughts tend to pop up in your head when you're a recovering self-loather, but I'm in recovery...that's all that matters.

The process that it has taken me to get to this point is long and grueling. It is a story that can only be told over a sit down cup of coffee, over the spans of a few hours. And to be honest, I don't have the emotional energy or time to go into it here in this blog. But I can give you a brief overview of how food has both controlled me and freed me from my inner prison. Around about 11 years old is when I realized that I had food hang ups. I wouldn't fully come to terms with my full blown eating disorder until I was 21 years of age....this year. Food has always been a part of my culture. I live in Louisiana, food capital of the country of the US of A. We eat here. A lot. No one gets away with being hungry here. Food is not seen only as a necessity for our bodies here, but a way of life. It is treated with a certain respect, a certain ritual that you don't really find outside of the Southern states. This is what we do here. Eat.

For as long as I can remember, I've been exposed to cooking. My mama home cooked every single morsel we put into our mouths as kid. My Mimi taught her, and my Mamie taught her. My mother, taught me and my sister everything we know about cooking. That's part of life here. If you're Southern and you don't know how to cook, you're either not really Southern or spoiled as all heck. This oral tradition of cooking is quite popular here. Food was never really an enemy until I was a teenager. Food was a friend that I never thought would turn on me. I guess you could say that Southern cooking isn't low fat. And I guess you could say that my body isn't composed like most people to break down carbs. I later found out in my life that my body is completely carb intolerant. It has taken me until THIS YEAR to get the story straight with my body. Up until I was 19 I just thought I was fat and there was nothing I could do about it. I guess that's why I started starving myself. Throwing up. Rationalizing to myself that it was okay to only eat one meal a day. And then....when things got too bad to handle...binge eat...because it felt good. Food became the dictator of my life. And eventually towards the end of it all, it completely swallowed me whole. When I was 19 I started to develop insulin resistance. If there is anything right now that I could tell you to STOP eating unhealthy foods, it is this. You do not want this disease. And it is brought on solely by being overweight, something that I had completely done to myself. There was no one to blame, there was no genetic disorder, it was my fault that I was sick.

Insulin resistance is characterized by complete lack of energy, constant nausea, shaking, dizzy spells, it almost feels like you're living in a bubble. Ultimately, insulin resistance leads to Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is, in my opinion, a fate worse than cancer. A slow killer characterized by seizures, limb loss, blindness, immobility...early death. I was on the fast track to dying prematurely. And there was medicine. There were pills that they gave me that made me feel worse and there was therapy sessions and diet programs and let me inform you that NONE OF IT WORKED. Some of you reading this might be shocked to find yourself in the same situation. I'm not. This disease affects nearly 17 million Americans and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. I'm really not surprised. And while it was predominately my fault, there is something that I didn't know. I didn't understand my body composition. And if SOME DOCTOR would have just let me know this ahead of time, they really could have saved me a world of hurt. I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), a female disease that affects 10% of women worldwide. It is a fairly new discovery. A condition that was once dismissed as infertility is now being investigated and found to be a disorder that screws with the hormones in a woman's body. She will sometimes develop cysts on her ovaries and/or suffer a lifetime of unexplained weight issues, fatigue, and irregular periods, and of course, the hallmark of PCO, inability to or difficulty conceiving. PCO can affect a woman in various different ways. For me, I won't know until I am ready to have kids if I am completely infertile. And to be honest, I haven't had an ultrasound in awhile, so I'm not sure if I have any cysts at the moment, which is quite dangerous. But I DO know that my number one symptom has been unexplained weight gain. I didn't realize up until quite recently what my body can and cannot handle. Apparently, carbs, is the number one perpetrator. Due to whatever imbalance I have in my body, I cannot process carbs. And so, as you can imagine, I had to figure out alternative ways of eating.

At first I started off slow. I understood what I COULD eat. Protein + vegetable was my first formula to start me off. I did a few experiments and realized I could still eat dairy pretty decently. So I included that in my diet as well, but in moderation. I have also found that I am able to have whole grains, but nothing less than REALLY thick bread full of oats and seeds and all that jazz. I can't eat pasta, I can't eat white bread, I can't eat white rice and I can't DEFINITELY can't eat sugar. That means that I also cannot eat high fructose corn syrup. Which means that I can't drink soda (even though I will have ONE every once in awhile), I can't eat most candies or sweets, and I can't eat.......99% of what's at the grocery store. No weird snacks like "Gushers" or "Fruit by the Foot"; I can't have chips or Popsicles or juice or canned fruits. I can't really have anything with preservatives in it. And so my diet consists mostly of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats, some dairy like cheese and milk, and fish. I sometimes eat eggs. That's it guys. And if we really look back at that and review it...that's how we're SUPPOSED to eat. I believe that I just covered the food pyramid.

So can we make the assumption that a great deal of American disease comes from what we eat and what we put in our body? Would I have even had problems with PCOS in the FIRST PLACE if we weren't eating shit all the time? Probably not. Look, I'm not a culinary student. I'm not a chef. I don't claim to really know what the hell I'm doing in the kitchen. Everything I know is either by what my family has taught me or by trial and error. I'm a person like you who has a life outside of food. I am a 3rd year psychology student, I like to do arts and crafts and I like to play outside in the park. My life does not revolve around food. But it IS a tool that I have used to manage my disorder and my depression. Cooking something healthy for yourself is rewarding and delicious. But, "what do we cook?" You ask. Good question. That's the entire purpose of this blog! Aren't we happy?

Lately, since I have little social life outside of textbooks and writing research papers, I have been supplementing my life with learning new recipes. My father's best friend once told me upon being asked about her cooking, "You just pull up a recipe and try it. You just go at it and that's how you learn." I have adopted that as my philosophy in the kitchen. No one is teaching me but me. And now...I am going to teach you. Let's realize now that this is completely experimental for both of us. Most likely I will have posted a recipe 10 minutes after I have cooked it for the first time myself. If I have deemed it worthy enough to go into this blog, that's where you'll find it. And since we all have different tastes, every single recipe MIGHT NOT work for you. If you don't prefer curry, then don't cook my curry recipe. I would also like to point out that most of my recipes I get from online and so they do not belong to me. I will always credit the author of the recipe in my entries. Lastly, I want to point out that I am NOT a certified dietitian. This blog is not to be followed as a diet plan or a strict rule to being healthy. To be honest, I am learning new things EVERYDAY about being healthy and so I can't really be your personal trainer. If you feel like you need to be put on a strict diet, I highly encourage you to see a real dietitian. That would be helpful.

This will be the format of my blog.

Monday: Vegetarian Recipe

Tuesday: Weight Loss Blog

Wednesday: Healthy Recipe

Thursday: Product Review

If this blog grows and prospers amongst my friends and other viewers, I might be able to add a section on Frequently Asked Questions for Friday. But until further notice, this is the format of my blog, Hungry Hungry Health Nut. I hope you will enjoy reading this, and learning to become healthy with me.


Live Long and Prosper,

The Hungry Hungry Health Nut