Well, hello there!

Well, hello there!
Matt & I in Costa Rica over Christmas...So beautiful there!
It's simple. Really. We're a young married couple that loves cooking together. We always try to eat healthy and, if it's simple and doesn't break the bank, we're into that, too! We hope you'll visit often and tell us what you think about what we're cooking! We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a note, a suggestion or a recipe!













Wednesday, July 28, 2010

chop and drop salad

The "chop" comes from the way the salad is prepared...chopped veggies. YUM.
The "drop" comes from the apple cider vinegar dressing which drops the glycemic index of the salad. Yep, you read that right...adding apple cider vinegar to anything (potatoes, salad, you-name-it)it instantly lowers the glycemic index of that food. Don't ask me how. I'm not really sure. But it does! I think we all know (and if you didn't before, you do now) that salad dressing, most anyways, are chock-full of unnecessary calories from fat and sugar. Bleh!!! Believe it or not, you CAN have a great-tasting salad dressing that works for you...instead of you having to work it off in the gym. I'm sure the last thing we want to think about is working off a friggin' salad at the gym. C'mon people, we go to the gym to work off other stuff, like, oh, I don't know, ice cream? Anybody? Please tell me I'm not alone on this.
Enough already. It's time to chop and drop!!! (It's pretty tasty, if I do say so myself)

What you'll need:
1 small haas avocado, chopped
1 large tomato, quartered and chopped
1/2 cucumber, quartered and chopped
2 green onions, sliced/chopped
1/4 large red onion, sliced and chopped
1 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper to taste

Mix it up:
Chunk everything into a salad bowl and mix away!

It's so, so, so good. Honestly. The apple cider vinegar is sweet/tangy and oh-so yummy in the salad.

Matt's take: "This is ridiculous. Why haven't we made this dressing before? This makes me want to eat salad all the time...seriously, when can be have it again? Tomorrow?"

My take: CHOP AND DROP, BABY!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

fried, but not fried rice.

Ambiguous, I know. But it's true. I successfully made my own fried rice without it being completely terrible for you! However, I'm not saying that eating fried rice from a restaurant every once in a while is terrible. Not saying that at all!
So, yesterday, Matt texts me and says "I'm craving Chinese food!".
Yum. Can't go wrong with Chinese food. For real. It's SOOOOOO tasty. My thoughts went a little something like this: "Chinese food! OOOOOOh, P.F. Changs!!! Ooooooh..." and then I realized two things. First, we're trying not to eat out during the week, or really even the weekends. Second, whenever we eat out for Chinese we eat way too much. WAY. TOO. MUCH. How can you not? So, with these two things in mind I figured we'd dine in which would mean spending less money, actually knowing what goes into the food, and fixing just enough for two people. A "serving" at most places like P.F. Changs could really feed at least two, maybe three people. Yeah, I know. It's crazy.
According to Matt, you cannot eat Chinese food without fried rice. It's a staple for the cuisine. I was not about to let him down!

Here's what we had: Kroger "Meals in Minutes" Beef Stir-Fry, Chung's Chicken Egg Rolls and Meg's Healthy Fried Rice

Note: The Beef Stir-Fry is only $5 and 180 cals/serving(2-3 servings per bag) with only 4 grams of fat! YESSSSSS

Want to make Meg's Healthy Fried Rice? I thought so!

INGREDIENTS:
1 C. natural Brown rice, cooked according to directions (takes about 40 minutes)
1/4 fresh jalapeno, seeded & chopped
3 Tbs. low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. black pepper
1 egg, "fried" in cooking spray/small amount cooking oil, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
In a small frying pan over medium-high hear, fry the egg and chop with spatula
Add jalapeno and sautee until edges begin to brown
Add cooked rice and remaining ingredients and stir until mixed well

By using the low-sodium soy sauce and a tiny amount of butter, you cut the calories from fat and the sodium by about, oh, I don't know...a bazillion percent. Yes, that's an actual number.

Try it. Love it. Eat it all the time. So good.
Matt's take? "This is off the chain"
SUCCESS.