Eating Out for 400 Calories or Less–McDonalds

We eat out more than I could like – mostly on the weekends. I’m not particularly tall (5’4”) and I find it difficult to not overeat at fast food restaurants. So I’ve decided to challenge myself to try to find things to eat that I enjoy eating that are 400 calories or less. I’m not going to worry about how much fat, sugar, or salt they have just how many calories (although I will report the nutritional information). I’m also going to try to have things where I don’t have to eat 3/4 of a burger or something in order to make it work.

My first attempt worked out really well. For 360 calories I got a Spicy Thai Chicken Salad with warm grilled chicken. It was really good – spicy and sweet. I found it satisfying and would definitely order it again.

Special Instructions:Grilled Chicken (though they normally ask)
Substitutions: None
Additions: None

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Per Salad with all the dressing: Calories – 360, Carbs – 32g (29g sugar), Fat – 12g (18% daily value, 1g Sat. 0g Trans), Protein 25, Fibre – 5, Sodium 940mg (39% daily value), .

Meatless Monday–Curry Gnocchi

Gordie was helping me pick out ingredients from the pantry and figured we should have Gnocchi. And then decided that he wanted chickpeas too. I was a little thrown. I usually just serve Gnocchi with a tomato pasta sauce. So I poked around the internet and that that some people combined these two ingredients with canned tomatoes. That was definitely something I could work with. When I run out of canned tomatoes I sometimes feel like I’ve lost the ability to cook. I decided to add some chopped spinach I had in the freezer which reminded me of an Indian dish so I added some currry spices. Gordie is a little iffy on the spinach (and green food in general at the moment) but loved everything else. The dish I made was a pretty mild curry without too much heat but you could always add more if you were so inclined.
Curry Gnocchi Recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 block of chopped frozen spinach
1 package of Gnocchi
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon Garam Masala (an indian spice mix, you can get it here in Calgary in Superstore in the Indian spice section – not the baking aisle)
If you can’t find or don’t want to buy Garam Masala just use twice the curry powder.

Directions
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Mix in the spices, tomatoes and chickpeas. You can basically cook this for as long as you want on a low simmer. I’d recommend at least 10-15 minutes.
2. When you are about 10 minutes from serving, put a pot of water on to boil. Add the Gnocchi to the boiling water. After a few minutes the gnocchi will float to the top. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the floating gnocchi into a bowl (it would also be fine to put them directly into the pan with the tomatoes and chickpeas).
2. Defrost the spinach in the microwave. As soon as it has thawed, squeeze the water out of it. The spinach will look the best if you add it to the pan close to when you plan on serving it but it will still taste fine if it cooks for a while.
3. Cook the spinach, tomatoes and chickpeas until the spinach is heated.

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Pour the cans into the pan
  
• Measure and pour the spices
  
• Stir the vegetables under close supervision

Per 1/4 of the Curry Gnocchi: Calories – 316, Carbs – 56g, Fat – 6g, Protein 12, Fibre – 7.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal–Slow Cooker Method

I got the inspiration for this dish from Oh She Glows (great vegan recipe ideas). I thought the concept would be perfect for the slow cooker and simplified it so it would be easier for me to throw together before bed.
I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I would definitely recommend adding a little maple syrup (or your favorite sugar like substance) on top because that really takes it from good oatmeal to carrot cake. My husband liked it even though he always complains whenever I use pecans or walnuts. Gordie seemed to like it too even though it often rejects carrots recently. They didn’t bother him at all in this. Bottom line - I will definitely be making it again because I loved it.

Carrot Cake Oatmeal Slow Cooker Method (Serves 4-6)
1 Cup Steel Cut Oats
2 Cups Water
2 1/2 Cups Milk (I’ve tried skim and soy – both good)
2 cups of carrots finely grated (2-3 good sized carrots, I have used a coarse grate and it was fine, just not as good)
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup walnuts/pecans (I always substitute pecans, I find them less bitter)
1/4 cup raisins
top with milk and maple syrup

I think a little cream cheese mixed in would be great, but I haven’t had a chance to try it.

Directions
1. Place the first 8 ingredients in a crock pot and stir to combine.
2. Cook the oatmeal on “warm” for 6-9 hours (If I put it on low overnight half of it sticks to the side of the crockpot, you may be able to put yours on low overnight if yours doesn’t run quite as hot as mine. If you don’t have a warm setting reduce the cooking time or just deal with it).
3. When you get up, pop in the raisins and walnuts.and turn the heat up to low. Cook for 20-30 more minutes and serve with milk and maple syrup.
Per 1/6 of the oatmeal with 1 Tbsp of maple syrup: Calories – 235, Carbs – 46g, Fat – 5g, Protein 8, Fibre – 5.
Photography Note: It is hard to take appealing pictures of goopy things. Toppings really help make it look more attractive.

Loving Leftovers: Pasta Frittata

One of the things that I’m trying to focus on lately is throwing out less leftovers. Often I find that I just can’t handle eating the same meal that I may have already had for supper and lunch again for the following supper. So I’m trying to find ways of mixing it up to make something that feels fresh but doesn’t involve a lot of additional work. One of my favourites is making a leftover pasta frittata. It works with any type of pasta and with or without meat. It’s best if you have a sauce with a bit of substance, but if all you have is plain pasta or a weak sauce like olive oil and parmesan you can still make it work. If this is the case, I’d recommend starting the frittata by sautéing an onion and some garlic to bump up the flavour or just add a few additional fresh items like fresh herbs (basil is nice), more tomatoes, or peppers and it’ll be great.

Leftover Pasta Frittata Recipe
About 1 cup of leftover pasta plus sauce
7-8 eggs
3/4 cup grape tomatoes halved
1 cup shredded cheese
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Beat the eggs
  
• Measure, pour and mix

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. 2. Beat the eggs and mix in the tomatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. 3. In a large oven proof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pasta and sauce and heat for 1 minute. 4. Evenly distribute the pasta in the pan. 5. Pour the eggs over the pasta and coat as well as you can. 6. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. 7. Cook over medium heat for 4-6 minutes. The frittata should be mostly set but the top will still be runny. 8. Place the pan in the oven for 4-6 minutes until the eggs are set.
If you don't have an oven proof skillet, you can use a lid to set the top of the eggs or you can slide the frittata onto a plate and then flip back into the pan to cook the other side but you’ll have to cook it longer on the first side.

The nutritional information will vary widely depending on what kind of pasta and sauce you use.
I seem to always have more than a cup of leftover pasta and have trouble resisting adding the extra. This will still work, but it won’t be as ‘eggy’ and it may alter the cooking time.

My Favorite Basic Hummus Recipe

I’m going to try out a few different hummus variations in the next couple of weeks, so I thought I’d first share my go-to hummus recipe. There’s about a million different hummus recipes out there but I do really love this one. I prefer the powdered garlic to fresh garlic as it gives it a more mellow flavor. I also strongly recommend making it a day ahead. The flavors have a chance to mix and the bitterness of the tahini (which I am a little sensitive to) is gone after a night in the fridge.     

Hummus Recipe
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Lemon juice
1/4 cup Water (more if needed)
1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Tahini
1 teaspoon Sea salt

Cooking with the Kids
Gordie really enjoyed making this and I enjoyed making it with him. Because there’s no heat required he’s able to be there through the whole process. Your child wouldn’t have to be much older than Gordie (nearly 2) to be able to do this with a lot of independence. 
The kids can:

• Measure and pour the ingredients
• Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
• Run the food processor (with supervision)

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus).
3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another 1/4 cup of water.

I find this makes quite a lot of hummus so I usually freeze half. It freezes really well.

Per 1/8 of the hummus: Calories – 103, Carbs – 10g, Fat – 6g, Protein 4, Fibre – 3.

Welsh Rarebit (Usbourne First Cookbook)

Welsh rarebit, is a dish made with a savoury sauce of melted cheese and various other ingredients and served hot over toast. It’s also the last recipe that I’ll be testing for my review of The Usborne First Cookbook. (Overall review to come). This is another one that I figured Gordie would love, it combines two of his favorite things eggs and tomatoes, how could we go wrong?

I also tried Baked Egg Tomato Cups, Cheese Soufflé  and Tasty Rice make sure it check them out too.

Welsh Rarebit Recipe
3/4 cup grated cheese (I’d use a an sharp cheddar next time)
1 tsp mustard
1 egg, beaten
3 or 4 drop Worcestershire sauce
salt and black pepper
4 slices of bread
2 tomatoes sliced

Direction
1. Stir the cheese, mustard, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
2. Put the slices of bread in the broiler (the toaster oven was great for this). Toast on on side.
3. Remove the toast from the broiler and spread the cheese mixture over the untoasted side of the bread. Lay a couple of slices of tomatoes on top depending on the size of tomato.
4. Put the toast back in the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and light brown.

So, Did They Eat It?
Gordie liked this, but not as much as I had expected. I made it for lunch so only the two of us were there to try it but that was probably for the best. At first I thought it was a little bit bland (it kind of is) but I kept going back for more! It was actually pretty yummy. I tried out two kids of bread a sourdough-like kind and a regular whole wheat. The Whole wheat actually turned out a lot better. I think the softer crust helped a lot. I’m not sure I’d bother making it again, but it would be a great recipe for young chefs. There is a lot they could do independently.

Per Welsh Rarebit: Calories – 183, Carbs – 17g, Fat – 9g, Protein 10, Fibre – 3.

Wordless Wednesday