Happy Food Discoveries

authorwriter
authorwriter Posts: 323 Member
I wanted to start a topic where we can put our food 'discoveries' as we, um...well...DISCOVER them. I'd like to share a couple of items I've recently discovered that make me very happy.

1) Explore Asian Cuisine Mung Bean Pasta - a 1 ounce dry serving of this is fine for our new stomach size and contains 91 calories, 5.5 g of fiber and 13 g protein. The taste is kind of neutral. I made it like pasta, boiled it for about 5 minutes, topped with some canned tomato puree or dice, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and shaved real parmesan. I think it's delicious. It's available from www.rawfoodworld.com for about $4 for an 8 ounce bag, plus shipping, so 8 meals for me. Fast and easy to make, which is good since I can't stand for very long. I'm glad I like it so much because I ordered 8 bags!

2) Sushi! - without the rice. My family wanted sushi today, so my daughter asked the chef to make me a casino roll, not deep-fried like it normally is, and without rice. So basically raw fish and veggie wrapped in Nori. She also ordered me sashimi. The casino roll was more than enough for my stomach, so the sashimi is waiting in the fridge for later today. I happen to adore sushi, and even at 6 bucks for the roll, it's an affordable treat since that's plenty for me for a meal.

I have Nori wrappers at home, again purchased at The Raw Food World during one of the monthly 'at cost' specials. I'm not brave enough to deal in raw fish, but am thinking I'll wrap veggie and cooked fish in it and serve with the wasabi and ginger for a fraction of the cost of a roll.

3) Homemade Miso soup. Another restaurant favorite, I ordered the Dashi, the Miso Paste and the dried ****ake mushrooms from Amazon. We already had the wakame(Seaweed) purchased at a local Asian market. And I have a lot of shelf stable silken tofu I ordered online at www.morinu.com. It's like that shelf-stable milk. As a result, it's always fresh. My daughter made the soup from a recipe we found online and it provided me a delicious low-calorie breakfast with plenty of protein.

Granted if you're not an afficionado of Asian cuisine, these may not be for you, but I urge you to give the mung bean noodles a try. You can probably find it or something like it in your local Asian grocer.

4) Also, I found a blog called The World According to Eggface chock full of recipes from a WLS foodie. Her protein ice cream is enough to earn her a place in heaven when she leaves this world, which, I hope, won't be for a very long time to come. Check her out!

Please, list what other happy discoveries you've made because somedays I find myself hungry, but what I really am is bored. I don't want to overeat, I just want something that delights my taste buds and makes those few bites I am able to eat feel totally worth it.

Replies

  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    Quartered red radishes or hominy put in your crock pot along with other veg are a very yummy and lower carb replacement for potato. Asians cook radish (daikon ) all the time. Our radishes absorb flavor just as well but we never cook them. They are my new convenience food this week since you can buy them trimmed, washed and bagged next to the baby carrots. They have an amazing glycemic load of 1!!! Hominy has a glycemic load of 9. Potato has a glycemic load of 29. I also like sweet potato -glycemic load of 11.
  • katematt313
    katematt313 Posts: 624 Member
    Rotisserie chicken. Is that too obvious?

    I buy one rotisserie chicken on Sunday.

    I pull the meat off, chop pretty fine, and then split in half. One half gets a little BBQ sauce for BBQ chicken sandwiches (the family loves them, and as long as I only use 1 tbsp BBQ sauce, I can eat that on the chicken with veggies for dinner).

    The other half I season like tacos and we have that with beans, veggies, and rice (the family has tacos and rice, and I just eat the chicken with the beans and veggies).

    Lastly, I use the carcass and veggies to make chicken stock for the week - it is delicious and has far less sodium than store-bought, canned, bouillon, etc. I have it straight at nighttime after dinner, and also use it to add flavor and moisture to pureed foods.

    For me, that is a week worth of meals for about $6.
  • homerismyhero
    homerismyhero Posts: 204 Member
    Great post! Just today I tried Pasta Zero for the first time - with a Hungry Girl beef stirfry recipe. She's great for low cal/low fat/low carb swaps, and the Pasta Zero was Ok.
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
    2 tbsp roasted edamame flavored or plain is only 65 calories with 7g of protein and is a great replacement for croutons on a salad or soup. I also like fried or Wasabi peas served this way. Great flavor and crunch
  • SimplySusan63
    SimplySusan63 Posts: 88 Member
    Rotisserie chicken. Is that too obvious?

    I buy one rotisserie chicken on Sunday.

    I pull the meat off, chop pretty fine, and then split in half. One half gets a little BBQ sauce for BBQ chicken sandwiches (the family loves them, and as long as I only use 1 tbsp BBQ sauce, I can eat that on the chicken with veggies for dinner).

    The other half I season like tacos and we have that with beans, veggies, and rice (the family has tacos and rice, and I just eat the chicken with the beans and veggies).

    Lastly, I use the carcass and veggies to make chicken stock for the week - it is delicious and has far less sodium than store-bought, canned, bouillon, etc. I have it straight at nighttime after dinner, and also use it to add flavor and moisture to pureed foods.

    For me, that is a week worth of meals for about $6.

    Maybe not so obvious . . . for me! :smile:

    Thanks for the great ideas!
  • SimplySusan63
    SimplySusan63 Posts: 88 Member
    I wanted to start a topic where we can put our food 'discoveries' as we, um...well...DISCOVER them. I'd like to share a couple of items I've recently discovered that make me very happy.

    1) Explore Asian Cuisine Mung Bean Pasta - a 1 ounce dry serving of this is fine for our new stomach size and contains 91 calories, 5.5 g of fiber and 13 g protein. The taste is kind of neutral. I made it like pasta, boiled it for about 5 minutes, topped with some canned tomato puree or dice, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and shaved real parmesan. I think it's delicious. It's available from www.rawfoodworld.com for about $4 for an 8 ounce bag, plus shipping, so 8 meals for me. Fast and easy to make, which is good since I can't stand for very long. I'm glad I like it so much because I ordered 8 bags!

    2) Sushi! - without the rice. My family wanted sushi today, so my daughter asked the chef to make me a casino roll, not deep-fried like it normally is, and without rice. So basically raw fish and veggie wrapped in Nori. She also ordered me sashimi. The casino roll was more than enough for my stomach, so the sashimi is waiting in the fridge for later today. I happen to adore sushi, and even at 6 bucks for the roll, it's an affordable treat since that's plenty for me for a meal.

    I have Nori wrappers at home, again purchased at The Raw Food World during one of the monthly 'at cost' specials. I'm not brave enough to deal in raw fish, but am thinking I'll wrap veggie and cooked fish in it and serve with the wasabi and ginger for a fraction of the cost of a roll.

    3) Homemade Miso soup. Another restaurant favorite, I ordered the Dashi, the Miso Paste and the dried ****ake mushrooms from Amazon. We already had the wakame(Seaweed) purchased at a local Asian market. And I have a lot of shelf stable silken tofu I ordered online at www.morinu.com. It's like that shelf-stable milk. As a result, it's always fresh. My daughter made the soup from a recipe we found online and it provided me a delicious low-calorie breakfast with plenty of protein.

    Granted if you're not an afficionado of Asian cuisine, these may not be for you, but I urge you to give the mung bean noodles a try. You can probably find it or something like it in your local Asian grocer.

    4) Also, I found a blog called The World According to Eggface chock full of recipes from a WLS foodie. Her protein ice cream is enough to earn her a place in heaven when she leaves this world, which, I hope, won't be for a very long time to come. Check her out!

    Please, list what other happy discoveries you've made because somedays I find myself hungry, but what I really am is bored. I don't want to overeat, I just want something that delights my taste buds and makes those few bites I am able to eat feel totally worth it.

    Thanks for this great idea. What a great place to share protein ideas.
  • pawoodhull
    pawoodhull Posts: 1,759 Member
    Love the rotisserie chicken! I keep some shredded in my fridge to top salads with. I really love salad and with 4 ounces of chicken and about a cup of lettuce, a little cheese and a few pine nuts, I am a happy camper! Bolthouse Farms salad dressings are made with yogurt, so lower in fat and calories. I tend to water down my dressings a bit, don't like real thick dressing, so they are even less calories my way. And this is a meal for me.

    I also keep canned chicken in the house. It's like having cans of tuna on hand. Drain and rinse and you can do almost anything with it. Ricotta cheese instead of lasagna noodles works well too. Mix with an egg and a little parmesan cheese and it firms as it cooks to almost a noodle consistency. Add your favorite mozzerella, meat and sauce, yum!

    Breakfast is usually at work, but on the weekends I love to mix browned turkey breakfast sausage, 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar, 1 carton regular eggbeaters and 1 carton southwestern eggbeaters into a breakfast scramble. Lots of protein and if you add a carton of eggbeater egg whites rather than the regular eggbeaters, lots of protein with fewer calories. Again, Yum!
  • murphyraven
    murphyraven Posts: 163 Member
    For me it was adding a 1/2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to my chocolate protein shakes to make them more chocolaty. I'm sure my tastes will change after surgery but right now the flavor of the protein drinks feel a little lack luster. I use the unjury flavors right now but I am ordering sample packs from a bunch of companies and saving them for after surgery to try.
  • weeziebeth
    weeziebeth Posts: 168 Member
    Cauliflower 'couscous'. Such an amazing fakeout. Love to have a mediterranean style chicken and the cauliflower makes a great substitute for the couscous.
  • authorwriter
    authorwriter Posts: 323 Member
    Cauliflower 'couscous'. Such an amazing fakeout. Love to have a mediterranean style chicken and the cauliflower makes a great substitute for the couscous.

    Can you post the recipe, or maybe a link to the recipe online? I love cauliflower and will just eat it barely steamed. I've been seeing a lot of recipes out there for things like Cauliflower mashed 'potatoes' and the like. I think i need to get on the cauliflower bandwagon.
  • weeziebeth
    weeziebeth Posts: 168 Member
    Cauliflower 'couscous'. Such an amazing fakeout. Love to have a mediterranean style chicken and the cauliflower makes a great substitute for the couscous.

    Can you post the recipe, or maybe a link to the recipe online? I love cauliflower and will just eat it barely steamed. I've been seeing a lot of recipes out there for things like Cauliflower mashed 'potatoes' and the like. I think i need to get on the cauliflower bandwagon.

    You just pulse cauliflower florets in the food processor (or use a box grater) and then prepare as you would couscous, minus the liquid. So.....I saute some onion or leek or some such, maybe a little chopped dry fruit (a little goes a long way here) and then add the cauliflower in-saute briefly-just until warmed through basically. If you cook too much it will just get mushy/soggy. It gives the mouth feel and much of the flavor of couscous.
  • aylajane
    aylajane Posts: 979 Member
    Chia pudding - 1 to 1.5 Tbs chia seeds, 4oz whatever milk (i use so delicious vanilla almond milk plus protein), and 1/4 to 1/2 scoop of whatever flavor protein powder you want. Put in glass mason jar, shake really good and let sit overnight. Eat cold for breakfast! The chia seeds soak up the moisture so its like pudding.
  • lucyw70
    lucyw70 Posts: 37 Member
    I really like the World According to Eggface blog, lots of great recipe ideas! I am still experimenting and trying to find things to eat that pack a lot of protein, so this is a great topic. I will be checking back often to see new food discoveries and hopefully post some of my own soon.
  • pawoodhull
    pawoodhull Posts: 1,759 Member
    Chia pudding - 1 to 1.5 Tbs chia seeds, 4oz whatever milk (i use so delicious vanilla almond milk plus protein), and 1/4 to 1/2 scoop of whatever flavor protein powder you want. Put in glass mason jar, shake really good and let sit overnight. Eat cold for breakfast! The chia seeds soak up the moisture so its like pudding.

    This sounds awesome! What are the nutrition details? How many calories, how much protein? What does it work out to size wise? Like a cup or so?
  • ankinray
    ankinray Posts: 13 Member
    which of the ice cream recipes do you like? I just got my ice cream maker delivered today-very excited :)
  • authorwriter
    authorwriter Posts: 323 Member
    My favorite ice cream so far is Chocolate protein powder with cinnamon. Tastes like Mexican chocolate. I also have Bariatric Advantage Orange cream flavor. I like that one with cinnamon also, like a creamsicle, if you remember those from when you were a kid. Sometimes I'll add PB2 to the chocolate for chocolate peanut butter. I just make the blend and put it in the ice cream maker and eat right away. I've found that one cup of liquid makes too much ice cream for me to eat, so I cut the liquid and the protein powder by half and that's a perfect portion. I also eat it as a meal because of that.

    I hope you enjoy!