We Kin Get Thin!

It is no secret that Joel and I love Indian cuisine. However, much to Joel's chagrin, we don't go out for it that much because of my diet. I've been feeling guilty about keeping him from his spicy mistress, so I decided to cook up a little Indian dinner at home. 

Now, I have tried many a times to make some Indian dishes from scratch like tikka masala, saag paneer and the likes. They always come out OK but nothing like at the restaurant, so I gave up. 

But I spotted this jug o goodness at Costco the other day : 

It was all very easy, since almost everything I got was pre-made. All I had to do was cook the basmati rice (i used brown basmati), heat up the naan, paneer, sauce, and samosas. 

Here's everybody all done up : 

It all came out quite delicious! Of course, it can't compare to our favorite restaurant, but I can at least watch my calories this way, and you all know how important that is to me! :-) 

I made the kheer as well, and we each had a little after dinner, but unfortunately I have no pictures. I wasn't impressed with it, but Joel said he liked it. 

I also got Corgi and Z this new dreamy bed at Costco 

Last night, my fridge was seemingly out of food. But you know me, something out of nothing! 

So I grabbed whatever I could find, and ended up with a truly fabulous dish. 

Here's what went down : 

Rice noodles! 

Rice noodles are great. Nutritionally, they don't really offer much, but they are delicious, filling, and pretty low in calories compared to regular pasta.  The best part is, they don't require cooking. You just soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes and they are done. I like to soak them until soft, and then throw them in a pan because I love crisping up the outside. 

While my rice is soaking, I cut up some cabbage, leftover from the spring roll experiment. I tossed it in the pan with some coconut oil.  I like to blacken up some of the cabbage, because it caramelizes and makes such a nice flavor.

Scouring the cupboards, I found some baby corn! I love baby corn! 

Corn babies. So cute. 

Also found some shredded carrots... IN YOU GO! 

My noodles were done soaking, so I tossed them in the pan as well to crisp up, that's when the magic happens, I tell you. 

And, DONE! delicious noodle dish in less than 15 minutes. 

I drizzled on a little cilantro dressing and then a little orange miso dressing. It was just the right amount of sweet sauciness.  

I did end up eating some greek yogurt as well, after I realized I neglected to add a protein.  

It made a very satisfying dessert :-)

I whipped up this little salad after my jog tonight (I did 2.5 miles straight! 40 minutes!) and it somehow embodied perfection! Not to mention, it was beautiful. I dubbed it - Rainbow Chopped Salad, because it contained every color of the rainbow! + Pink, for good measure... 

So here it is! 

Genius!  The salmon was marinated for an hour and a half in - cilantro, miso, scallion, garlic, and lemon.

The whole thing was then drizzled with an organic orange miso dressing. 

One of my best creations! Not bad for on-the-fly! Joel approved too!

Let us start this post with some more good news! 

I now, officially weigh LESS than my boyfriend. That's right folks! I have surpassed sweet baby Joel. He didn't make it easy, with his boy-metabolism and conveniently dropping .5lbs any time I was close. (though, I call trickery on that!) 

Anyway, YAY :-) 

Secondly, I made a crock pot post roast that came out divine - 

I scarfed it down with some mushrooms, potato wedges and kumato.

What is kumato, you ask?!

a kumato is a type of tomato, which is sweet and delicious and is a different color than tomatoes. It is dark green, brown, and red and quite beautiful in an ugly way, if you ask me. 

Here he is next to his cousin - 

(talk about black sheep o'the fam)

But trust me, he's delectable. 

I then made soup with the crock-drippings and leftover meat. I added brown rice, onions, and carrots and honestly? Best soup I ever made. And I don't even like soup! I meant to take a picture, but after sparing a bowl to bring my Dad... Joel devoured the rest of the crockpot. He loved it! And that's nice :-) 

And this evening, I made something else I never made before - spring rolls! 

These came out quite good, but had quite a lot of room for improvement, which I intend to give them in the near future. 

But tonight, they had - cabbage, carrot, cilantro, red onion, and avocado all wrapped in rice paper. I used the TJ's cilantro dressing as a dipping sauce.

Ok, so they are a little messy looking. I got the smaller size rice paper, and they were pretty tight for the rolling so I had a tough time. I was having flashbacks to making crepes ;) I got the hang of it eventually, and so hopefully next time will be neater. I will also be adding a protein to them next time, I'm thinking shrimp or crab, and perhaps some fresh jalapenos. 

Well, that's it from me for this evening. 

Love, 

The girlfriend who weighs less than her boyfriend.

As you may have noticed in my side bar over there ----> 

We are now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher!  This means, in the next day or two I will also be putting up one ad in the sidebar as well. I have always been anti-ad when it comes to my blog. However, I really love Foodbuzz, and the companies that it affiliates with. The ad will tuck away nicely over there, and should not be distracting. I am excited! If you're not on Foodbuzz (and you love food), then you really should be.  Essentially... it's Facebook, for foodies. 

Ok! Enough business!  Let's talk about my dinner last night. 

Joel was out at his friend's house, and when that happens I usually cook the  most random dinners for myself. Last night was no exception. 

First, I made some coconut Chobani. 

My friend at work and I are always clamoring on about how we wish Chobani had a coconut flavor. So I made my own!  I just took vanilla chobs, added coconut extract, agave, and shredded coconut (unsweetened) 

It came out just perfect!  I then ate one cup myself, and I made two cups for my friend. In one, I layered it with chocolate yogurt, and made a parfait! I can't wait till she gets here so I can show her! 

(Z approves)

After that deliciousness settled, I was ready for my savory portion of dinner!

I sauteed up some whole mushrooms in a pan with - red wine (cooking), olive oil, chicken broth, and some herbs. 

In a bowl, I mixed - 2 laughing cow cheese slices, low fat bleu cheese crumbles, low fat grated parmesan, black pepper, and garlic. 

I then proceeded to eat the crap out of that dish. 

It was SO good. Reminded me very much of eating the mushroom caps that you cook at The Melting Pot.  

After dinner, I prepped my morning oats, as always 

That is - 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 scoop chia seeds, cinnamon, and kumquat preserves. 

I haven't gone grocery shopping yet, so last night was a mish-mash effort to make dinner. It actually worked out quite well! I hammered down some chicken breasts (which, was oddly satisfying), and stuffed them with pepperoni, cheddar cheese, and horseradish sauce. Covered it in black and red pepper spices and baked it in a casserole dish. 

It came out pretty good! I was very sparing with the fillings, since I needed to still keep the calories in check.  And so naturally, it would have been more delicious with a heap of melty cheese. But all the flavors were present, and it was nice and moist. 

I also happened to have some fingerling potatoes. So I chopped some up with sweet onion, olive oil, and spices and cooked them in aluminum foil for a bit.  

These little guys never disappoint! 

For me, I added a side of asparagus. 

My plate : 

40 minutes total to make. And tasty as heck!

One of Joel's favorite dinners is homemade pizza. I, however, and not that big of a fan. 

But, I like to indulge the man :-) 

Anyway, tonight was pizza night.  So I made mine with : 

Pizza dough, fontina cheese, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, onion, pesto, fresh basil, olives, roasted garlic, and capers. 

Yes, it was phenomenal. 

This morning, I actually convinced Joel to go to the track with me, too! I jogged a mile straight again (yay!) and Joel couldn't keep up (double yay!) :-)  He made an audible sigh when I said we were going to my usual 3.1. So I told him we could stop at 2.  It was probably wise, because now my knees are throbbing. He was tired :-)  

After dinner tonight, I was still hungry, and I had a boatload of calories left. So I had dessert. And it was GLORIOUS.

Strawberries. Kumquats. Pecans. Drizzle o ginger syrup. 

Spoon.

MOUTH.

I was supposed to make my famous shrimp ceviche tacos for Joel for dinner tonight. I went shopping, got all the ingredients to go with the shrimpies I had in the freezer. Got home. Sad discovery. No said shrimpies in said freezer.  

What I did have was some chicken breasts, and some leftover crab meat. Sooo, I made the same deal, but chicken for Joel, crab for me.  It.Was.Glorious. Even better than the shrimp. 

Here's what's what : 

crab meat, tomato, cucumber, sugar snap peas, red onion, green onion, cilantro, avocado, olive oil, lime juice, pepper & salt

Here's what it looked like : 

And here's what I named it! 

CRAB FIESTA!!

And here's what I drank with it : 

My new favorite flavor! Noms.

It contains YUMBERRIES. 

True story!

Lots of good news for you today...  

1. I feel 90% better! 

2. Joel comes home today! 

3. I had a wonderful day with my Mom and Auntie yesterday! (see pics below!) 

Only bad news?  My week of sickness gifted me 3lbs.  I am going to workworkwork and focus and try to lose SIX pounds this week. Which will get rid of the 3lbs I gained this week, and then the next 3lbs which will bring me to my first major goal of 50lbs lost.  

Well, my Mom and Auntie came over. We had decided that we'd prepare a delicious foodie meal for ourselves.  

First of all, Auntie made all three of us matching aprons. 

Here's Mom modeling hers :-) 

Secondly, I had to set the mood! I got these amazing wildflowers at Whole Foods. 

Alright, moving on to the FOOD! 

I made an appetizer of Parmesan Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

I've never made stuffed mushrooms before, but the concoction I came up with worked perfectly!

(baby bellas, crab meat, LF mayo, garlic, green onion, grated parmesan, paprika)

After cooking, garnished with kumquat and raisins

Onto the main course...

Here's Mom's  Parsnip and Golden Beet Pureé, with a Mushroom Duxelle

This was, hands-down, everyone's favorite dish of the night. It was unbelievably delicious. Salty, rich, and earthy. Mm! 

Choppin' up the fungus. 

The parsnip and beet pureé (parsnips, golden beet, butter, cream, angels singing)

The duxelle being scooped onto the pureé. 

(duxelle : finely chopped mushrooms cooked down with olive oil until they turn into something freakishly amazing)

I have no words! MMPPH! 

Here's some roasted veggies -

Sweet potato, beets, garlic, onions

Auntie made the main dish, which was this incredible spinach stuffed lamb.

I don't know everything she put in it, but I know it had - lamb, croutons, spinach, garlic, rosemary, and love!

My plate! 

After dinner, we had tea and dessert. I picked up these miniature desserts at Whole Foods.  We all had about 2 bites of each and then couldn't move any longer. :-) 

(Cheesecake, dark chocolate truffle, lemon creme cake, fruit tart)

After dinner (and before, actually!), we played Bananagrams! Which is a cute, fun word game. And Auntie, Mom, and I love word games! 

So there you have it!  Our lovely night of deliciousness. 

I'll leave you with a cute picture :) 

I have this cool application on my iPhone called Hipstamatic, which uses filters to take pics that come out looking like old-school photos :-)  I love it!! 

I took a couple self portraits with it as well, you can see HERE .