Recipe: Veggie Enchiladas

I think I'm going to try this one on Thursday. I think I'm going to sub whole wheat tortillas for the corn ones, and the recipe doesn't say low-fat cheese, so I think I might sub 2% cheese. I also might put in half ground turkey or chicken for half of the spinach (I know, I know, but that's a lot of spinach).

Veggie Enchiladas- makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 tsp. chili power, divided
• ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 can (8oz.) low sodium tomato sauce
• 2 Tbsp. water
• ½ tsp. hot pepper sauce
• 8 (8-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 cup (4oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• dash of salt

Directions:

1.In a large skillet combine spinach, mushrooms, beans, 2 tsp. chili powder and red pepper flakes over medium heat.

2. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat.

3. Combine tomato sauce, water, remaining 1 tsp. Chili powder and pepper sauce in a pie pan. Stir.

4. Dip tortillas into tomato sauce mixture and stack on wax paper.

5. Divide spinach filling into 8 portions. Spoon onto centers of tortillas.

6. Roll up and place tortillas in microwavable dish.

7. Spread tomato mixture over enchiladas.

8. Cover dish with vented plastic wrap. Microwave at medium for about 10 minutes.

9. Sprinkle with cheese. Microwave at Medium for about 1 minute or until cheese is melted.

Nutrition per Serving: Calories 385, Total Fat 11g, Cholesterol 25mg, Sodium 741mg, Carbohydrates 55g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Protein 22g.

Recipe: Easy Protein Waffles

In an effort to lower my sugar intake, I’ve been making protein waffles for breakfast for a few weeks now. These are super easy to make. I don’t eat them every day, but at least 2-3 days a week. I make them on the weekends and freeze them (they keep for up to 3 weeks frozen), then nuke them in the microwave for a minute. I like to measure out the syrup in a cute little fondue bowl (I knew I’d find a use for all my fondue crap one day). I use 1/4 cup of light syrup…only 100 calories, but it still has a ton of sugar, and dunk the waffle on my drive to work.

I’ve just tweaked this recipe to substitute ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce for ¼ cup vegetable oil. Lower in fat, and I think it makes the waffles even fluffier, if possible. Someday in the next few months, I'm going to start making these from scratch, in an effort to make a healthier waffle. I'm also looking for a topping with less sugar (or high-fructose corn syrup).




Easy Protein Waffles


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups waffle mix (I use Hungry Jack Extra Light and Fluffy Pancake and Waffle Mix)


• 1 egg


• 2 level scoops of protein powder (I use chocolate protein powder because, well, that's all I have)


• 1 1/4 cups water


• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together (sometimes I use a hand mixer, if it's too lumpy). Spray waffle iron with Pam, then pour part of the batter into the hot waffle iron. Close and cook for 2-4 minutes (depending on the waffle iron and how well done you like your waffles). Repeat until all the mix is gone. Makes about 4 and 1/2 waffles, unless you pour heavy, then it makes 4.

Nutrition Information:
193 calories; 3.2 g fat; 49 mg cholesterol; 651 mg sodium; 31.7 g carbohydrates; .7 g fiber; 6.1 g sugar; 9.8 g protein; 18% calcium; 11% iron.

Recipe: Beans & Rice

I found this recipe and I think it will taste better than my current recipe (which is not bad, but very bland). Probably won't try it tonight, but I think I put red pepper and cider vinegar on the shopping list for next week. Also, I will probably use my slow-cooking enriched white rice for the brown rice. Why? It actually has the same amount of fiber and more nutrients than the brown rice that is sold commercially. I'm not ready to go shopping at Whole Foods or where ever just for rice. Once I have about 4 or 5 organic things that I decide I have to have and am sick of paying through the nose for, then we'll talk.


Beans & Rice
Total time to prepare : 15 min
Servings: 4


Ingredients

• 1 cup instant brown rice


• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil


• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)


• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced (2 cups)


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 19-oz can black beans, or dark red kidney beans, rinsed


• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth


• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar


• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce


• 1/8 teaspoon pepper


• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  

Directions:
Cook rice. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add onion, cook for 2 min, stirring often. Add bell pepper and garlic, cook until softened (2-3 minutes) stirring often. Add beans, broth, vinegar, hot sauce and pepper. Cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes. Add the hot rice and cilantro; mix well.

Nutrition Information per serving:

Calories 252; Carbohydrates 42g; Dietary Fiber 10g; Fat 4g (Monounsaturated Fat 2g); Potassium 189mg; Sodium 429 mg.

Oatmeal Cookie Report

Last night I made the oatmeal cookie/bean recipe, and, well...it didn't suck. But it wasn't great. The batter, though, was great. So great, in fact, that I ate part of the batter, and gave the cookies to a co-worker. So now I halved my supply of oatmeal, and now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of it.

Other than the oatmeal cookie batter orgy, my eating was fair yesterday. My fault, I was running late and left half of my lunch on the counter, so all I had for lunch was celery and low-fat ranch dressing...and peanut m&ms. I was hungry after lunch, I was hungry when I got home. And I was cranky that the cookies didn't turn out as well as I wanted to. Sigh.

Workout: I walked 45 min at lunch time, and in the evening I tried out the Budokon workout (see below). I wanted to do something a little more intense, but that workout has been gathering dust for a couple of weeks now, so I guilted myself into doing it.

Oatmeal, oatmeal and more oatmeal

I knew that I hated oatmeal. I mean, it smells wonderful, especially the different varieties you can get, but blech. It has the texure of finely whipped wet cardboard...oh, and that's what it tastes like too. But in an effort to eat more protein at breakfast, I decided that peanut butter and oatmeal would be a wonderful thing. To make a long story short, I ended up feeding it to the dog (he loved it). And now, because I was absolutely certain that I would enjoy this horrible concoction, and because it was on sale, I have lots and lots of oatmeal.

Because I'm cheap, because I'm broke, I have to use up all of this freaking oatmeal. I decided that the only way I'm eating that nasty oatmeal is in cookie form, so I went online to look for a reasonably healthy oatmeal cookie recipe. I found this: http://extension.usu.edu/fsne/files/uploads/lessons/Heart%20Healthy%20Eating/Awesome%20Heart%20Healthy%20Oatmeal%20Cookies.pdf

It uses beans, instead of a lot of the butter. BEANS! But in the interests of healthy living, I'm going to try it. It's not like I'm going to eat the oatmeal anyway. So we're going to see what kind of potential combination oatmeal and beans can be. Stay tuned, kids.

Yesterday the eating was OK. A little calorie heavy, but all good food (with the exception of my 20 oz Pepsi). For my lunch workout I did the the upper body/compound weight premix of Cathe's Cardio & Weights, about 45 min with stretching. I don't feel like it gives me a very thorough leg workout, so in the evening I added one of those 10 Minute Solution videos, the Amy Bento one, and worked the legs with a band. Then I finished up with cardio, the first 30 or so minutes of Cathe's KickMax plus stretch.