The original recipe is by Nom Nom Paleo, and I followed everything as directed, except using regular butter. I also used regular garlic.
The original recipe calls it Tuna Salad Celery Boats. I modified some ingredients so here’s my version:
Mix the top five ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Spread on celery stalks, then add the chopped avocado and grape tomatoes. This recipe is good for three stalks (cut before the leafy section), but mine were skinny so I used up four. This is about 200-250 calories.
and healthy, too! This was my post-workout meal today. It was only three days ago that I learned that I need to have protein and simple carbs within 30 minutes after exercising, so my breakfast is going through some modifications. At least I finally put some vegetables craps to good use today – you know, those leaves and stems from celery, leftover cauliflower, some baby carrots, and the last tomato in the house. You can use any vegetable, but be sure to slice them small. I’d like to try this with spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli next time.
Here’s the original recipe from Mind Over Munch.
I didn’t have any egg whites so I used the last three eggs in the fridge. Yep, definitely need to go grocery shopping tomorrow.
If you follow the original recipe and use only one whole egg and 3/4 cup egg whites each muffin is only 36 calories. Mine is 64 calories. Don’t use paper cups, I only did because I did not feel like washing the muffin pan.
Chicken breasts are usually dry when grilled so I cooked it in the oven this time, using my favorite spicy sauce.
The sauce ingredients are simple: olive oil, Nando’s Peri-Peri Sauce, Garlic Chili Hot Sauce, and red pepper flakes. Except for the olive oil all other ingredients are zero calorie. If you’re not used to hot and spicy food I recommend a 2T:1T:1tsp ratio. Bake the chicken at 400F for 30 mins., then broil for another 10 mins.
The cauliflower dish is a variation from this paleo recipe and I got the idea to combine it with baked chicken from this Instagram pic.
Here’s my version:
INGREDIENTS (2 Servings)
I used a strainer to steam the cauliflower over a saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes.
Then I fried it on olive oil, adding a dash of black pepper, the lemon juice and chopped almonds for 3-5 minutes, perhaps longer if you chose not to steam the cauliflower first.
Preparing the lemon zest: I love my new grater, it comes with a container and its own lid.
Add the lemon zest last as garnish.
The chicken looks ready.
Dinner is served with brown rice.
It’s a good thing my goal was to drop size and not lose weight. About 5 months since I started working out I’m down from size 12 to 8 yet still weight the same!
Technically I got into the fitness program six months ago, but the first 1-2 months were more about establishing an aerobic baseline. I was so out of shape I needed to build stamina by joining my mother-in-law during her morning walks, she had to stop a few times to let me catch up! Then I got reacquainted with my old exercise videos: Jane Fonda, Kathy Smith, and Jennifer Galardi. At least I did not have to learn new moves, just had to keep up with the pace. Those videos were hard, especially the jumping jacks and floor exercises. I really only liked the dance portions. It took a lot of will power to exercise daily, and it’s easy to see why I quit after a few months when I tried them after I gave birth – the daily workout became every other day, then 2x a week, the pfffft. So in October I switched to Zumba, and instantly got hooked. It was addicting, I was doing salsa and samba while preparing dinner and go to bed looking forward to working out in the morning. Then it was easy to workout 6 days a week.
In November I began counting calories out of curiosity. I was not strictly on a diet, and basically ate whatever I liked — but luckily I prefer to prepare my own food, which is the first rule to eating smart (once again, the silver lining to being grounded and unemployed: can’t afford to eat out). Using calorie counters enabled me to see the nutrition analysis of my favorite snacks and recipes, and taught me that my diet was nutritionally imbalanced. So I began incorporating fat burning and muscle building foods like eggs and nuts. I’m also supposed to eat every 3 hours, so I explored breakfast and snack items that are 200 calories. This way I can still enjoy old and new recipes for dinner with wine. My “food diary” is on Instagram with entries for #what200calorieslookslike.
I may need to add more strength moves for muscle toning, but otherwise I’m pleased with the routine I have and being able to enjoy good food.
My mother-in-law is evil! Okay, seriously, I love her to death. But imagine my consternation when we walked in her home and found all kitchen counters filled with brownies, cookies, crinkles, and other baked goodies that she made that day. “They’re not for you,” she sniffed, “it’s for church, but you’re welcome to have some.”
Well, she was so busy with all these that I volunteered to prepare dinner on Christmas eve. It was probably the only healthy food we had during our visit. I could not stop pigging out on junk food, chocolates, brownies, and white bread.
And MIL bonded once again when we took turns working out to our favorite exercise videos. Last summer we bonded when she let me borrow her weights and mat while she got to use my exercise videos. You gotta love her, she let me keep her 3-lbs. weights because she never used these, “they’re too light!”
RECIPES
I continue to monitor what I can eat that’s 200 calories or less. Doing so allows me to eat every three hours, thereby improving my metabolism. You can visually follow my efforts thru Instagram, which I’m having some trouble updating this morning.
Buttermilk toast 100cal, 2 Tbsp cheddar and monterey jack 100cal
This is part of my son’s breakfast: it’s a combination of white bread, shredded cheese, and garlic – and it’s 200 calories. Of course he gets two slices plus fruits and chocolate milk to go with it.
And this is my breakfast and it’s also slightly under 200 calories: multi-grain toast with two hard boiled egg whites and half egg yolk. I had it with the usual mug of green tea and a teaspoon of honey. It is more filling than the white bread toast with peanut butter, with about the same amount of calories and less protein. The key is a hard boiled egg white is only 17 calories with 3 grams of protein, while a hard boiled egg with egg yolk is 70 calories with 6 grams protein.
White Bread Toast & Peanut Butter = 185 cal=
Today was one of those days when I did not feel like getting up and almost did not do my workout. Chaperoning my son’s all-day field trip yesterday was just too draining. Actually, any deviation from our daily routines — a meeting or appointment — throws me off. But I knew that doing Zumba re-energizes me and clears my head. It’s even nicer to work out in this cold weather, if I could just stop shivering while putting on my workout outfit. It reminds me of that funny quote when women wore tights and leotards: “I hate aerobics: all that bending, jumping, and stretching … by the time I’m done putting my outfit on I’m too tired…” The key is to get up, put on exercise clothes, prepare drink (60 ounces of water mixed with fresh lemon and grapefruit juice), and if I have to pick up my son’s mess to clear the exercise area, well, that’s part of the warm up. That’s what I do, at least 5x but preferably 6x a week, after I get out of bed.
It was this summer when I decided that after 10 years of trying to get back in shape I simply ran out of excuses. So I made that slide with my newly purchased shoes to announce my intentions on Facebook. No more excuses, just results!
“I am on a 1200-calorie diet and find it very difficult,” a friend confided. Which is why I try not to get hung up on calories per se. There are days when I am able to keep it down to 1000-1200 calories a day, but it is seldom a nutritionally balanced diet. My husband and I love food and enjoy cooking too much to diet. But I can find a good balance at 1500 calories/day.
It turns out that on days when I didn’t have the appetite or time to eat … such as when I was stressing over my son’s IEP meeting … my body was undernourished. When I give in to cravings I end up loading on carbs and salt. When I steered clear of dairy and meat to keep my cholesterol down I end up eating more carbs and salty food, so it is a vicious cycle.
The key is to eat smart: focus on foods rich in nutrients and which boost metabolism, cut down on foods that are “empty calories,” because they usually add to belly fat.
This is my power breakfast, it’s what I’ve been eating six days a week for months, although the Chia seeds are a recent addition. When combined with green tea and honey this breakfast is 562 calories, but it’s loaded with fat burning nutrients.
And because I am willing to sacrifice my body for the worthy cause of comparing calories in foods we also ate at Shakeys. This plate with a slice of cheese pizza, 3 slices of mojos, and 2 pcs chicken wings (my weakness) is 561 calories, and loaded with fat, protein, and sodium.
Here are the two meals with the same amount of calories, and their nutrition analysis by Caloriecount.about.com:
This is a wonderful side dish that is easy to prepare. Believe it or not, it has less than 100 calories and both spinach and sesame offer many health benefits.
Caloriecount.com is the source, but I relied on memory when I used to make these in Islamabad with a slightly more bitter and mature spinach leaves, so the result here with baby spinach was very salty. So I’ve adjusted the recipe here, while the pictures look different showing much less spinach, down to 1 cup, after it was steamed.
RECIPE
Toast the sesame seeds on a pan — or you can skip this part if you have toasted sesame seeds already. Grind the sesame seeds. (When I didn’t have a mortar and pestle I used an empty sauce jar.) Steam spinach over boiling water for a minute. Blend soy sauce and sugar then pour over spinach. Sprinkle sesame and toss.
You can also try this Japanese style recipe which includes sake and mirin to make the sesame sauce.
Hiraeth 
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