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A Thin Recipe Week in Review with a Video

June 20, 2011 By Fran 7 Comments
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Tortilla-BreakfastThis was a colorful week.  In many respects.  It started with a bit of an experiment.  An egg poached in a plastic bag dropped into a pot of water. Good idea.  Poor execution.  You’ll see in the video below that I had to do a bit of trim work to try to make the egg look like, well … an egg rather than a white tube with a yellow spot.  I prefer the texture of an egg poached the traditional way — in a pot of boiling water.

Mid week, a spectacular double rainbow accompanied me on the way to work and while friends tell me it marks an auspicious occasion, I’m still waiting for that propitious event.  I’ll let you know when it happens.  I hope you plan to follow me for a while — I have a feeling it might be a while.

In other news, I had a date with the scale this morning, as I do every Sunday morning and I decided I’d better go light for dinner the night before.

Another crack at a quinoa cake with a poached egg and my new favorite condiment — Peruvian Aji Verde  (recipe below) hit the spot, although I’m still not in love with the quinoa cake thing.  I think I’m hoping it will have the taste and texture of a potato pancake, but it’s missing a fairly important component… frying in oil!

Poached-Egg-on-Quinoa-Cake

After the weigh-in breakfast ensued.  It wasn’t a heavy Sunday brunch affair.  Those meals are a thing of the past, but somewhere in the week I apparently overdid it because I managed to put on 4/10ths of a pound.  ACK!  Stop that now!  It could be worse.  To date, I’ve lost an average of 1.1 lbs. a we ek! Sure, more would be great — better even, but I’m still smiling and feeling so much better.

 


I decided to continue on the lean eating after the weigh-in and during my usual trip to Trader Joe’s after the meeting I picked up an interesting Vegetable-Rice Bento Box from the frozen food department.  It wasn’t the best Japanese food I’d ever had … ok, maybe it was among the worst Japanese food I’d ever tested, but it satisfied my hunger.  I’d finally broken down and eaten at the Sushi carousel at the mall the day before and while it is a cool idea, it was obviously mall food and while not great, like the bento box, my 4 small plates satisfied me without an overabundance of food.  I’d forgotten to take a look at the rate sheet and had no idea how much I was paying for each plate.  The waitstaff tallies the number of plates in each color category to come up with your total and I didn’t want to spend a ton on lunch in either points or dollars since I was a big points-spender at breakfast before heading to the mall.

A home made waffle and a bit of maple syrup accompanied by a couple of rashers of turkey bacon added up to a whopping 11 point breakfast.  That left me with just 18 points for the rest of the day.  Not a killer.  Just something to keep in mind and I guess it was just too much for the day before a weigh-in, although really … does a gain happen in real time?  Right, I don’t think so either.  That waffle and syrup may yet find their way to the scale.

I’d say it was a deliciously colorful week and I’m looking forward to what next week will bring.

Peruvian-Aji-Verde-Sauce

Have you had Aji Verde?  How about Peruvian food?  It’s my current favorite cuisine!

Peruvian Aji Verde
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Recipe Type: Condiment
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 2 mins
Total time: 12 mins
This tangy, slightly spicy sauce is great with just about anything.
Ingredients
  • 1 large bunch fresh Cilantro
  • 1/4 cup Flat Leaf Parsley
  • 1/2 small Onion
  • 3 fresh Jalapeño Peppers, ribs and seeds removed
  • 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 teaspoons Cider Vinegar
  • Zest of 1 Lime
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
  • 1 clove Garlic
  • 2 tablespoons Water
Instructions
  1. Blend all ingredients in a blender, food processor or mortar and pestle until smooth. Add more water, a teaspoon at a time if necessary.
  2. Refrigerate unused sauce.
Serving size: 2 tablespoons Calories: 14.2 Fat: 1.4g Carbohydrates: 0.8g Fiber: 0.1g Protein: 0.2g
Notes

This sauce is so versatile, you’ll find yourself using it on almost everything once you’ve gotten a taste of it.

This condiment has a Weight Watchers Points Plus value of 1. Be careful, you’ll find yourself wanting to drink it!

For added body, add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise. Surprisingly, the addition of mayo will not increase the points value. The calories will just about double, however to 32.2.

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Filed Under: All Posts, Breakfast, From Asia, From the Sea, Internationally Inspired, Side Dishes, Totally American Tagged With: Aji Verde, Breakfast, Cook, Dinner, Food, Lunch, Peru, Recipe, Video, Weight Watchers

Giving Turkey-Bacon a Try

May 4, 2011 By Fran Leave a Comment
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Turkey-Bacon, Basil and Tomato Sandwich

Healthy Sandwich for LunchI’ve never bought turkey-bacon before.  It’s not something I paid attention to in the market.  Hell, I don’t even think it’s supposed to be hyphenated, but it sure does seem like it should be.  Sure, I knew it existed, but in my no holds barred approach to eating the past couple of decades I never would have considered such a thing.  I mean, it’s nothing like turkey — and the only thing “bacon-y” about it is the — ummm taste — sort of.

My eating like there was no tomorrow and denying myself nothing didn’t have room for eschewing myself a good slab of bacon.  As a matter of fact, in the past 12 months I’ve cured and consumed over TWO POUNDS of bacon in my own kitchen!  I chronicled it over at FRANtasticFood and loved every minute of it.  But wow, what a poor choice.  It didn’t stop there thought and that’s why I’m here … looking for ways to stay happy in the kitchen without the unhealthy aspects of eating with abandon.

And I come to you with good news.  Bacon is not forbidden.  YAAY!  Three slices of packaged, store bought bacon will cost you 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus Values or approximately 46 – 50 calories per slice.  You’ll have to be frugal about your points or calories budget, but it’s possible if you plan and if you want to save a bit and not back track on the good work you’ve done all week, there’s turkey-bacon.  I decided to give it a try because I wanted to see what it tastes like and it costs just 2 points for 3 slices!!

Bacon Close Up

Home cured bacon

 

Yes!  Really.  I’m not kidding.  You’re probably getting to know me a bit better by now and know that I’m not much for erzatz food, but with the low points value, I had to give it a try.

I won’t lie — it’s not bacon, but the texture and flavor in my Turkey-Bacon, Basil and Tomato sandwich really did the trick for me today and all that for just 8 points!

But … since real bacon is just 4 points for 3 slices these beauties are going to be on the menu again this summer with real bacon and I can hardly wait!  I’ll post the recipe, complete with Weight Watchers Points Plus Values and a nutritional breakdown for those watching calories and fat once I fire up the grill and get going this summer.

Delicious Pepper treats

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers

 

Jalapeño Poppers were my addiction last year and I think I pretty much perfected the recipe and process.

I’m excited to see how to make it work this year in a new scaled back, albeit just as tasty version.  With the weather finally warming up, it won’t be long before the grill is going full bore and all kinds of deliciousness is coming from my balcony.

In the meantime, this is what I put together for a satisfying, bacon-tasting lunch:

Turkey-Bacon, Basil and Tomato Sandwich
#ratingval# from #reviews# reviews
Print
Recipe Type: Main
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Total time: 15 mins
Serves: 1
Using Turkey-bacon and a large basil leaf was the answer to a sandwich that really hit the spot.
Ingredients
  • 3 slices reduced fat turkey-bacon (I used Oscar Meyer)
  • 1 reduced calorie sandwich round such as Arnold or Pepperidge Farm — a light English Muffin will also do well
  • 1 ounce shredded, reduced fat Cheddar or Colby cheese
  • 1 small tomato, sliced thinly
  • 1 tsp good Dijon style mayonnaise
  • 1 large basil leaf
Instructions
  1. Using a grill pan, brown the turkey on both sides. Once brown, remove to a plate to cool and crisp up.
  2. In a small bowl, mix the mayo and mustard until combined.
  3. Place one side of the sandwich round on the hot grill pan and build your sandwich. There should be remaining fat from the turkey bacon so you won’t need any additional fat or butter.
  4. Place cheese on the empty slice of bread.
  5. Add bacon.
  6. Add tomato slices.
  7. Spread mayo-mustard spread on the other side of the bread and then place on top of the tomatoes.
  8. Using a panini press or other heavy tool (plate, covered brick, cast iron pan, etc.) cook the sandwich on medium high until the bread on the pan side is brown. This should take about 3 minutes.
  9. Carefully turn the sandwich if desired and cook another minute until done.
  10. Remove to a plate, add grapes to the plate and serve.
Serving size: 1 Sandwich Calories: 216.8 Fat: 9.0g Carbohydrates: 23.3g Fiber: 5.2g Protein: 14.0g
Notes

You can make a traditional grilled bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with real bacon and it will only cost you 3 more points. If you’ve budgeted enough room in your plan for the day, go for it!

Instead of basil, feel free to use a lettuce of your choice.

If you’ve got Wasabi paste or mayo in the house, replace the mayonnaise-mustard mix for a sinus-flaring kick.

If you don’t have a rigged grill pan or panini press, a skillet will work just as well. It just won’t have the “grill” marks.

Some of the cheese will ooze out onto the pan, but that bit of crunchy cheese makes it all the more delicious.

According to my calculations using the Weight Watchers online recipe builder, this sandwich will cost you 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus Values.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe
1.2.4

 

 

 

Filed Under: All Posts, From the Coop, From the Pen, Main Dishes Tagged With: Basil, Lunch, Recipe, Sandwich, Tomato, Turkey Bacon, Weight Watchers
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