3 Course Valentine's Day Dinner Pt. 1 Stuffed Mushrooms

Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching, are you ready? My kids were invited to have pizza and watch a movie at  a friend's house on Saturday night so I decided my husband and I would celebrate early. I however didn't really want to go out to eat and worry about eating PINK friendly so I made a romantic dinner at home. Plus I think cooking a meal for someone is one of the best gifts you can give, anyone can take you out to dinner or buy a gift but it is something special when you take the time to cook someone a meal, especially one as good as this.

Here is what is on the menu:
Vegetable Stuffed Mushrooms
Soy and Ginger Marinated Halibut on a bed Oriental Slaw
Chocolate Strawberry Panna Cotta

I am going to break up the meal into 3 different posts simply because it would be to long to do it all in one. First up the vegetable stuffed mushrooms, which not only make a great reset friendly appetizer, they would make a great snack or part of a lunch along side a salad.

Vegetable Stuffed Mushrooms
1 lb. of button mushrooms
1 small zucchini
1/2 small red onion
1 or 2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp original flavor Mrs. Dash

Method

Wash your mushrooms and remove the stems, make sure to hold onto them because we will use them in the stuffing mixture.

I didn't use my mushroom stems, I had several mushrooms in the fridge that needed to be used before they went bad so I used those instead, if you don't have those use your stems.

Throw your mushroom stems into a blender or food processor along with your zucchini and red onion.

Using your blender or food processor, chop the vegetables up into small bits, make sure not to go to far and make it a paste but you want pretty small bits.

Add your chopped vegetables into a saute pan which has been misted with olive oil. Add in your minced garlic and balsamic vinegar and cook until the vegetables have softened and most of the vinegar has disappeared.

Take the sauteed vegetable mixture and stuff your mushrooms

Bake the mushrooms at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the mushroom cap has softened, they will probably give off a little liquid.

Enjoy!

Be sure to check out part 2 of your Valentine's Day menu Soy Ginger Marinated Halibut on a bed of Oriental Slaw and part 3 Chocolate Panna Cotta

Shepard's Pie

Let me ask you a question, "Would you like some Shepard's pie?" If you are following the P.I.N.K method your answer should be, "Oh gosh, I would love some but I am trying to change my eating habits and I don't think all the mashed potatoes would fit into my eating plan." To which I would reply, "Oh you can have this Shepard's pie, it is 100% P.I.N.K friendly" Then you would come over and give me big hug because I gave you yet another meal that will become a favorite.

Seriously, you can have Shepard's pie both on reset and while in the primary phases. So how will we make this P.I.N.K friendly? First we will replace the potatoes on the top with mashed cauliflower (have you tried mashed cauliflower? It really is good.) Second, instead of making a gravy out using flour, we are just going to leave it out and let the sauce reduce and thicken slightly on it's own. So you do want to know how to make it? Well continue reading and I'll tell you how.

PINK friendly Shepard's Pie
1 1/2 lb. of meat (use what you like, traditionally it is made with ground beef, I used cubed pork tenderloin)
3 cups mixed vegetables (use what you like, I used onions, carrots, zucchini, red bell pepper)
1 small sweet potato (only use this if you are in one of the primary phases, if you1 are on reset leave it out.)
1 1/2 cup low organic low sodium beef broth (really you should make your own but I didn't have the time)
1 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. of Mrs. Dash original blend seasoning

Mashed Cauliflower
2 cups mashed cauliflower
2 tsp. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. of Mrs. Dash original blend seasoning

Optional (if you are making an original version for your family)
3 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese


How to make

Start by chopping up all your meat and vegetables including the cauliflower.

Then steam your cauliflower, I used about 1/2 head of cauliflower.
While the cauliflower is steaming, brown your meat.
When the meat is brown add the remaining vegetables to the pot and allow to soften.

Add the low sodium beef stock and the tomato paste to the vegetables and meat, let simmer until the liquid is reduced and thickened slightly.

While the sauce is thickening, puree your cooked cauliflower in a blender with the nutritional yeast and Mrs. Dash. If your cauliflower doesn't blend up completely to a mashed potato consistency, add a little bit of the liquid it steamed in but be careful not to add to much, you aren't making soup.

Take out your portion of meat and vegetables from the main pot, at this point since I am on phase 1 I also added some sweet potato to my mixture as my slow carb. If you are on reset, just leave it out. I removed 2 portions so I could have a serving for tomorrow since Friday in our house is pizza night, my dinner will be made and I will be less likely to cheat if I can just pull it out to eat.

Top them with your cauliflower puree, I also sprinkled a little more nutritional yeast on top of my puree before it went into the oven to bake.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Note: You will have a lot of meat and vegetables left once you remove your portion, this will be what your family will eat. Put what is left in a separate pan and top it with mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar cheese, then bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. This is the more traditional way to make a Shepard's pie and I am sure your family will love it. You also could do half mashed cauliflower and half mashed potato, your family will never know that you have hidden more vegetables in their meal plus it will cut the calories way down. .

Orange Julius Smoothie (Pink Style)

Oh, Orange Julius and their famous Orange Smoothies. They take me back to being a teenager and hanging out at the mall, getting and Orange Julius drink was a must while I was there with my friends. As I was out walking the dog after my workout, I was thinking about making my shake and  had a brilliant idea. Why don't I sub out the strawberries in PINK Drink #1 for and orange? I wasn't sure it would be approved but after looking in the book at the approved list of slow fruits and seeing that the Pina Colada with a Side of Green Smoothie in the back of the book had a half of an orange in it, I was pretty sure it would be okay. I wondered how the calorie count would change and discovered that a cup of strawberries has 53 calories while a small orange has 63, ten more calories was no big deal to me so I decided I had to try it and it was good!

Orange Julius Smoothie Pink Style
1 cup almond or coconut milk
1 scoop protein powder (I use the 365 whey protein powder from Whole Foods, 80 calories a scoop)
1 orange peeled and wedges seperated
1/2 cup ice

Put it all in your blender and blend until smooth. If you want a thicker smoothie, add more ice.

As you can see there are little black seeds in my smoothie, those are chia seeds. I add them mostly as a way to add in some Omega 3's and to help with my fiber intake, the absorb 8-10 times their weight in water and help me to feel fuller longer. I also used them to make this strawberry chia seed jam awhile ago. 

Indian Spiced Chicken

Food on a diet doesn't have to be boring...not when you spice it up! I love, love, love Indian food. While this may not officially qualify as something that would officially be eaten in India, it uses those wonderful spices used in Indian cuisine and hit the spot for dinner last night. It is a little spicy so beware, you may need to adjust if spicy dishes aren't your thing. The texture is like a really thick stew/goulash but as I was making it, I thought I could just add some more water and it would make an excellent soup, especially if added some more vegetables. I am currently in phase 1 of the PINK method so I served this 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa but if you are in reset, don't have the quinoa and it is completely reset friendly. So on the recipe.


Indian Spiced Chicken

1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast (or whatever amount you want, this made enough for the whole family)

1 small onion cut into chunks
2 small zucchinis (or whatever vegetables you like)
2 cloves of garlic

1 can diced tomatoes (the rule with canned tomatoes is to look at the sodium content and make sure that the sodium is equal to or less that the number of calories per serving.)
1 can tomato sauce
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp garam masala spice mix (garam masala is a mixture of lots of spices, corriander, cumin, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, etc. you can make your own, I just happen to have some that a friend gave me. Here is a recipe to make your own)

1/4 cup Greek yogurt (this is optional and should be omitted if on reset, I think, I could be wrong but I don't think Greek yogurt is allowed until the primary phases. The yogurt helps to cool down the heat of the sauce a little bit and gives a creamy consistency to the dish.)

Directions

This is easy, you simply dump all of your ingredients except your yogurt into a pan and let is simmer for about 40 minutes or so. You could easily make this in a crock pot if you remember to do that ahead of time, I always forget.

Once it has cooked and the sauce thickened and reduced, turn off the heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes just to cool.

After it has cooled a bit and you are ready to eat, add in your 1/4 greek yogurt and stir to combine (if you are in reset, omit this step). If you add the yogurt while it is still cooking or super hot, the yogurt will curdle slightly, not a big deal, it doesn't change the flavor or the texture really, I just don't like how it looks.

Serve along side a grain, brown rice, quinoa, etc. if you are in the primary phase. If you are in reset, you can eat as is or make some roasted cauliflower and serve over that. I added some curry to my cauliflower before roasting it just to carry the "Indian" flavor through out the meal. Enjoy!

40 Calorie Chocolate Mint "Ice Cream"

Do you ever have days when you just need something sweet? I had one of those days yesterday. It was a gorgeous day where I live, we did a bunch of yard work in the morning and then the boys in my family headed out to a friends house to watch the Superbowl while my daughter and I watched the puppy bowl at home. While watching it, I got a hankering for something sweet. I could have a cup of almond milk hot chocolate which usually does the trick but I wanted something with a little more substance so I decided to make the almond milk hot chocolate, add a dash of mint extract and freeze it all so that in the end I could blend it up into and "ice" cream for dessert. Now I say "ice" cream because that is really what it is, pulverized flavored ice, but it did the trick for my sweet tooth for only 40 calories so I can't complain. Well to be honest about 20 calories because I only ate half of the batch, the rest is waiting in the freezer for another day when the sweet tooth needs to be fed.

This is pretty easy, the hardest part is waiting for it to freeze.

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 tsp cacao powder
few drops of mint extract
few drops of stevia

How to

Measure out 1 cup of almond milk and warm in the microwave for about a minute, warming the milk is optional, I just find that the cacao powder dissolves into the milk easier if it is warm.

Add in your cacao powder, mint extract, and stevia and stir until it is all combined.

When combined pour into ice trays and freeze.

When the cubes are frozen remove from the freezer and put into the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds just to soften a bit.

Add the cubes into your blender and pulverize the heck out of them. If your cubes were soft enough, you should see something like ice cream in your blender. If it looks more like ice crystals, add just a smidgen of almond milk and blend again. If by accident you put in to much milk, you can simply put it into the freezer to harden a bit.

Top with a sprinkling of cacao powder and enjoy! 

Have you meet the Hunger Monster?

Thought this picture was funny, I might have to buy to put on the fridge.

Have you ever had one of those days while dieting? "Those days," could mean different things to everyone but for me 'those days' are days when you are doing great eating according to plan you are almost done with the day, just a few hours left and bam you screw up. Well yesterday was one of those days. I ate my  baked banana oatmeal for breakfast, yummo! Had some egg salad mushroom cups for lunch which I will share in a few and then 5 o'clock came around and hunger set in bumbumbum (cue the scary music.) Hunger when on a diet is scary, will  you allow the hunger to massacre your entire day of good eating or will you defeat the evil  hunger monster and save your day? I know I should write a movie, sounds like a good plot doesn't it. Well yesterday I allowed the hunger monster to not necessarily massacre the whole day of good eating but he certainly left a scar. So what did I allow the hunger monster to scar me with? About 10 -15 baked multi-grain chips. Damage was about 150 calories. Yes, not awful, will I gain from it? Probably not but I was mad at myself for being so weak in the eyes of the hunger monster because I have been so strong the last 3 1/2 weeks. But I have a choice, beat myself over it or figure our where I went wrong so that next time I will be prepared to defeat him.

So where did I go wrong, how did I become weak yesterday? First off, I failed miserably when it came to drinking my water, I don't think I even got in 50 ounces when I normally try for about 100. Water is your friend when you feel hungry. Second mistake, I went to the grocery store around 5 o'clock and being in a grocery store when you are hungry is a huge no no, it is like kryptonite to Superman, it weakens your powers. Thirdly, I should have had some vegetables packed and along for the ride.

Next time I stare down the face of the hunger monster he better watch out, I will have my water gun locked and loaded. I will not go looking for him when I am weak and if I do, I will have my side kick "Vegi-man" by my side. Watch our hunger monster because the next time we meet and we will, you are going down!

Ok, so we all screw up sometimes, that doesn't mean my whole day was awful. Here is what I had for lunch which was very good and good for you. Very easy to make essentially it is egg salad stuffed into mushroom cups. I don't think I need to tell you how to make egg salad, everyone makes it slightly differently but I will tell you what I put into mine to act as a filler because one egg and one tbsp of mayonnaise doesn't go very far. I chopped up some onion and some cucumber to act as a filler in my salad. I also wanted to add some dill pickle to the salad but didn't want all the salt that came with it so I chose to sprinkle in a little dill weed into the salad along with some black pepper, I would have added mustard too but we were all out. It was a good lunch that was light and refreshing. Definitely something you could take a long for lunch at work or even on a picnic when it gets a little warmer. 

So off I go to face another day. Remember you have the power to defeat the hunger monster if he shows up in your neck of the woods today. 

Baked Banana Oatmeal

This is a good one!! For all of you who work and need to get breakfast in a hurry, this is a great baked oatmeal that can be made on your day off and then eaten through out the week. If you divide it into 6 equal portions, your breakfast is covered for the week. That is unless your family likes it, in that case it won't last that long, not that I am speaking from experience of anything.

So first off let me give credit where credit is due. I found this recipe on a great blog called Budget Bytes and while the recipe looks fabulous it wasn't quite P.I.N.K approved so I set to work PINKifying it. Here is what I came up with.

Baked Banana Oatmeal


2 1/2 cups Old fashion oats
2 cups almond or coconut milk
2 eggs
2 under ripe bananas
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Stevia to your liking of sweetness

So before we get to making the oatmeal, let's talk a bit about how PINK friendly this is. So the blueprint for PINK Primary tells you, you can eat 1 serving of a low calorie protein and 1 serving of a  slow carb or a slow fruit for breakfast. Here is how I work it out in my mind. My oats are my serving of a slow carb and one serving is a half a cup to which I am putting in 5 servings of oats but getting 6 servings out of the dish so adding in the banana I feel is okay for me to get in that other serving of a slow fruit plus some. I know that I am over on the slow fruit but I hardly eat mine at lunch so I feel fine with it. The same goes with the protein, the milk counts as a protein along with the eggs but 1 cup of milk is a serving of milk and 1 egg is a serving so technically this recipe has 4 servings of protein but again will make six servings.

Argue with me if you want that I am not following the PINK eating method to a T. For me I feel it is fine, make your decision based on your needs. Also on PINK we don't count calories but I am always interested and keep a little mental running tally of what I eat through out the day, albeit imperfect I know. So here is how I figured out the calories/nutritional content. Keep in mind the recipe list the total ingredients, the tool I used takes the total calories divides it by the number of servings to come up with the calories listed. No 2 1/2 cups of oats is not 125 calories, it is more like 750 calories but divided by 6 is 125, you get how I came to the calories? If anyone is interested I use the calorie count website, under new recipes you can put your ingredients and it will analyze it for you. Pretty cool huh?

(per serving)

Cals

Gr.

2 1/2 cups old

 fashioned oats

125

A

2

cups

 unsweetened

 vanilla almond breeze

13

A

2

eggs

21

B+

2

bananas

35

A

1/2 

tsp

baking powder

0

B+

1/2 

tspbaking soda

0

1/2

tsp

cinnamon

0

A-

 

1/2

tsp pumpkin pie spice

0

B+

1

tsp

 vanilla extract

2

B

1

stevia

0

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 169 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  198 Calories from Fat  46

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  5.1g 8%

Saturated Fat  0.9g 5%

Trans Fat  0.0g

Cholesterol  62mg 21%

Sodium  185mg 8%

Total Carbohydrates  32.8g 11%

Dietary Fiber  4.8g 19%

Sugars  5.0g

Protein  6.8g

Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 6% Calcium 10% • Iron 12%

Nutrition Grade B-

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

How to make baked oatmeal

Mash your bananas

Add your egg, vanilla extract, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the mashed banana and stir to incorporate.

Whisk in your almond or coconut milk, I used unsweetened almond milk.

Add your oats and stir to incorporate.

Pour into a glass 8 x 8 pan that has been sprayed with a little oil

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Divide your baked oatmeal up into 6 equal servings and know that you are set for the week when it comes to breakfast.