Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I love lettuce wraps. I can't help but order them when I come across them on a menu. I don't know why I've waited this long to make them myself! They are very simple to make and are great for lunch or dinner. This week I literally brought a container full of filling and a head of lettuce to work. Viola - lunches taken care of!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
2 tbsp oil
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up in small pieces
1 can water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 carrots, shredded
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp garlic powder (or fresh)
1 tsp ground ginger (or fresh)

salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cashews, chopped
1 head iceberg lettuce
  1. Heat oil in pan and cook chicken until no longer pink.
  2. Meanwhile, chop vegetables and nuts.
  3. Once chicken is cooked add in vegetables, sauce and spices and cook for a few minutes until warmed through. I knew I would be reheating this, so I didn't cook it for very long as I didn't want the vegetables to get soggy.
  4. Spoon filling into lettuce and wrap up to eat. You can top with extra chopped cashews and/or grated carrots if you are looking for more crunch.
  5. Enjoy:)





Saturday, February 8, 2014

Chicken Cheese Avocado Quesadilla

My daily life revolves around food. Often, before I'm even out of bed I have a meal plan. Might sound excessive but remember that I eat the same thing for breakfast every day (banana, mixed berries, flax and almond milk protein smoothie) and I plan my lunches and a general dinner theme on Sunday. I know most people can't/won't eat the same thing for five days straight, but lucky for me I thrive on consistency. Also, I try to be conscious about not over shopping and buying more food than I need, then having to throw it away., so I don't usually have too many options!

Quesadillas are something I make all the time. Fact: quesadillas are delicious. Even when I have no groceries I still have the fixings for a dilla. All you need is cheese and tortilla- never let yourself run out of those! Sometimes I make them as simple as pesto and cheese. Often I'll use leftover fajita filling. I love a pesto cranberry chicken and Parmesan dilla. My most favourite, by far, is chicken with cheese and avocado!

Chicken Cheese Avocado Quesadilla

Ingredients
Whole wheat tortilla
Chicken
Cheese
Avocado
Salsa

Directions
  1. Place wrap in a frying pan and turn stove to medium-high.
  2. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces (I used teriyaki chicken -yum)
  3. Sprinkle one half of tortilla with cheese, then top with chicken.
  4. Cut up avocado and distribute half on top of chicken, top with more cheese.
  5. Mash the remainder of the avocado and spread on empty side of tortilla.
  6. Fold the tortilla over on itself and cook until edges harden, then flip to other side. This only takes a few minutes. 
  7. Get your salsa out and a plate, cut the dilla into 4 pieces and enjoy!


Friday, December 21, 2012

Misconceptions



Throughout my life, I've had lots of misconceptions about things that were largely inaccurate. In plainer, less fluffy words, I've been wrong about a lot of stuff, lots of times. I thought things were one way when they really weren't. Hmm, for some reason I can't think of the proper words to explain this phenomena, so I will just share a couple of things off the list. Here goes nothin'...
 
Seafood. I thought it was grossly disgusting because it looks and smells weird, and then one day, under extreme provocation, I tried a garlic buttered prawn and decided that it was chewily delicious. Next came deep fried calamari, dipped in tzitiki, and my reaction was the same. It made me realize that I pretty much like anything when it's sauteed in garlic butter and that tzitiki is a food for the gods. I still haven't tapped the Fish World yet, maybe by the time I'm 30 I will be brave enough to eat the slimy, scary swimmy creatures.
 
Drilling down that point a bit further, I'll tell you a little story. Growing up, my family spent a lot of quality time at White Spot - we still do, as a matter of fact. For years, I ate White Spot's Red Clam Chowder thinking the clams were chicken. The "chicken" bits were especially chewy but I guess my mom said they it was chicken and I never thought to question it... Until one day (it was a dark day) someone spilled the beans and told me it was clams. CLAMS! For months, maybe even years, I refused to eat said beloved soup. After the feelings of betrayal wore off, I jumped back on the clam chowder wagon, skipping the clams and eating everything else.

Moving along... Growing up, I had a Philippino nanny who pretty much raised me and my sisters while my parents were working. She is a great lady and I love her dearly. Please note, however, that I still do not forgive her for punishing me, by putting hot sauce in my mouth when I was bad. My memories grow fond when I recall the delicious dinners full (and consisting entirely) of white rice, bacon and soy sauce. Delicious! Anyways, back to the point- growing up, I'd never seen any pictures of this Phillipines place, so of course, I conjured up images in my head. I pictured the Philippines as a high tech, fortress style place. At one point, I watched the movie Total Recall (my dad ingrained in me a love of terrible movies) and for some reason I linked the Phillipines with Total Recall and from then on that is what I pictured. To be honest, I still do.
 



I think I'll leave it at that picture of Arnold. Not much can top that!




Thursday, September 15, 2011

17 Day Diet. Part 1

Periodically since I became a "grown up" I've had a twitch in my right eye. It comes and goes. When it's gone it never even crosses my mind. When it's here it's all I can think about. Horrifyingly, it's been hanging around on and off for the last two weeks. Ugh. I looked it up and it may be caused by: Fatigue or lack of sleep; Over consumption of caffeine; Physical or emotional stress; Anxiety or phobias; Brain damage or other neurological disorders; Eye stress associated with extended viewing of the computer screen; Epilepsy.

I thought long and hard about these potential causes and have decided I must have epilepsy. Darn it! Seriously though, I think it's from this diet that I'm on, and by diet I mean healthy eating plan. The word diet arouses too many negative connotations that I'd rather not arouse.

I jumped on KT's 17 Day Diet bandwagon as that's what I do. I am a bandwagon jumper. Whatever you're doing I want to do it do. Jumping off a bridge? Fine. I'll be there.

Let me give you a run down on the 17 Day Diet. It's a four phase diet, each phase is 17 days. If you fail the first 17 days or are not happy with the results you start from the beginning. The first phase has the most eating restrictions. You are allowed 2 servings of fruits and 2 of probiotics (eg, yogurt) before 2 PM and are allowed unlimited amounts of vegetables and lean protein (eg., chicken or turkey). The next three phases slowly reintroduce other types of fruits, vegetables, proteins and whole grains (in moderation).

I, like most people, love carbs...and by carbs I mean starchy, bready, delicious carbs- bread, oatmeal, pasta. I only eat fruits and vegetables in order to make my plate look pretty. I am on day 4 of the diet. Last night we went for dinner and I spent the entire time staring at my mom's garlic toast and at the pita situated at the far end of the table. A few times I looked to katie for permission to eat the heavenly carbs. She gave me a "go ahead, but i'm not eating any". She doesn't care if I cheat BUT cheating isn't the same if you're doing it solo. Cheating = Failing. On that note, let me tell you of my fails so far... I have had two cups of coffee with cream over the last four days and I probably have had more fruit today than I should have as I was snacking on prunes from my desk drawer to fight off starvation. That's not so bad hey?

I just read an article in Macleans written by Dr. William Davis the author of "Wheat Belly", he claims that eating wheat is making us fat. In his interview with Macleans he states that wheat is addictive and if you 'go off' wheat you will experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms for about five days. After that your cravings will subside, your calorie intake decreases and your alertness and overall health improve.

So I'm pretty sure the reasons why I feel absolutely terrible, why my eye is twitching and why I can't focus on anything (but thoughts of cheese bread) is because I'm going through withdrawal. Essentially, I am a crack addict for carbs. Fantsic, i'm sure my mom would be so proud! The good news is that as I'm on day 4 of no wheat, by tomorrow or hopefully the day after, I will be FREE from my addiction to wheat. Yippee! FREE AT LAST! *insert jolly jump with heel click here* In the meantime, I'm thinking that the coffee I had after lunch (in hopes it would make my eye twitch and raging headache go away) kind of helped. I feel capable of being less of a raging b*tch now. Hooray!

Stay tuned for more misadventures of Diet Girl, a story of the hunt for healthy.

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Un-Official Foodie Handbook

Before I had officially decided that I wanted to be a Foodie, I was just a girl who obsessed about food. New ingredients, new recipes, new restaurants; Low fat, low calorie, high protein, high fibre; What to try, what to buy, what to bake; Where to go and what to order... A thousand seemingly insignificant food related details. It's just food afterall, right? Wrong. Now that I'm Shelly the Foodie I have legitimate platform to obsess about foodstuff.

As per Wikipedia:

Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.

I think my lack of refined taste will suit me well as a foodie. Come along with me on my journey [insert beckoning arm gesture here].

Pick a country, any country... Ethopia? okay sure. I'll tell you about the time (Last Saturday) when we went for Ethiopian food. For some of you that may not know, Ethiopia is a country on the East coast of Africa with a population of around 80 million people and boasts to being one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today. WOW!

Rumor had it that Alanna and her cohorts Leslie and Vicky were heading down to commericial drive to cross Ethiopian Food off their Bucket List. When my plans fell through that night I called and begged Nikita to bring me along. Nothing gets my juices flowing like Ethiopian food. Please note that was said straight-faced sarcastically. On the way downtown Nikita mentions that she has something to tell me. Now I can't remember exactly how she said this, but it was in such a way that frightened me. Basically, Bad News Bears.

"You have to eat with your hands at this restaurant, there isn't any cuttlery," Nikita mumbles.

"WHAT?! Have you seen how long my nails are?" I gasp in horror.

After a minute or two of sulking i get over it. Shortly after we arrive at the restaurant, which is called Addis. The pronunciation is unverified. We threw it around a bit and came up with "ah-dee".

The three musketeers have already arrived and a minute later the waiter brings us some menus. On the menu there are a variety of chicken, beef, lamb and vegeterian dishes with minimal descriptions. We ask the waiter what his recommendations are and he isn't very helpful. A gentleman who has just finished his meal and is leaving the restaurant comes over and apologizes for eavesdropping then tells us he had the vegetarian and the chicken dish and that it was more than enough for him and his dining companion. We take his recommendation and add a beef dish as well to round out the meal.

The food comes. It is on a large round plate topped with, what seems to be, a pancake. This pancakey adornment has also been rolled up and served on a side dish for us to use as our utensils (remember? no cutlery!). The beef and chicken are nicely cooked and seasoned. The assortment of vegetables are decent as well. This is definitely a meal that is best had with good friends or family as there is a lot of grabbing and reaching and mess. After the meal is over and our parking has almost expired we go up to the till to pay. $35 dollars for the five of us. I convince Nikita to buy a box of chocolate covered almonds for a good cause (the cause being my grumbling tummy).

Annonymous quote:
I had no idea they had Ethiopian food judging by the photos I have seen in National Geographic.