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:)

healthtastic.

Let's talk about health, baby. let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things. Health, baby. Let's talk about health!

I hope that song gets stuck in your head! Ok, so I've decided to do a spiel on health by sharing some of the things that I do as part of my normal routine that I believe keep me healthy. I actively pursue new ideas and trends to see what others are doing to keep themselves healthy and fit. Some I try out and nix within a week or so and some things I keep and mix into my own routine. Hopefully one or more of these things will make your life a little bit better! Ready? OK!

#1. I take vitamins, daily. What kind, you ask? Depends on what's on sale when I go shopping for vitamins. Currently I take a multi vitamin, a cranberry pill, and biotin (helps to metabolize carbs, protein and fat - rumoured to make your hair grow faster). Occasionally, I take Omega 3 pills, probiotics, vitamin C and echinacea.

7. I squeeze a lemon in my first bottle of water in the morning. Lemon water helps balance your pH, has tons of vitamin C, aids in digestion and helps the purging of toxins. The rest of the day, I drink plain boring old water, but lots of it so that I don't dry up like a prune.

#4. Oatmeal for breakfast, every day.... sounds boring, but I've been eating it for years and never get sick of it. I make mine with skim milk and add in banana, ground flax and vanilla protein powder. Sometimes I get wild and will throw in blueberries, chocolate chips or even nuts. It's a hearty, well-rounded breakfast that keeps me full until snack time.

5) I work out 6 days a week, doing both cardio and weights. One of those workouts if spent with my personal trainer who gives me the extra push I want and the accountability I need. I spend a lot of time on the treadmill with my ipod, and find it helps me get my thoughts in order. I also love running really fast. I especially love running in front of the mirror because I feel like I'm racing myself.

6. I eat 3 meals a day and a couple of snacks. Eating often keeps my metabolism up and stops me from ever being hungry. I try to eat lean proteins, lots of vegetables, whole grains and low fat dairy. That being said, I rarely choose salad over fries at restaurants and I will take a steak over chicken almost any day of the week.

2. I have warm baths with Epsom salts a few times a week. Some of the countless health benefits include relaxing the nervous system, curing skin problems, soothing back pain and aching limbs, easing muscle strain, healing cuts, treating cold and congestion, and drawing toxins from the body.

8. I don't watch a lot of TV, especially since I JUST finished all 5 seasons of Sons of Anarchy and have nothing else I want to watch... I spend a lot of my free time reading. I read somewhere that reading burns more calories than watching TV because your brain has to work harder. Reading also keeps my vocabulary up to snuff. Speaking of vocabulary, you'd think with all the reading I do that I could come up with a better word than 'snuff'!

3) I get an embarassing amount of sleep. On weeknights I'm usually in bed by 9:30 and up at 6:30, which is 9 hours each night. I like to think I bank some of those extra hours for the weekends where I'm up until 4AM.

The end. That's it? Yep! I know, I know, nothing earth shattering. I am not a health nut by any means. There is an equally long list of things I do that are super unhealthy (see: binge drinking, McDonalds, aspartame and all-night partying) but I can definitely tell you that everything on my list is shelly tested and approved! Are you on pinterest? Go check out my healthtastic board here.

Now, go be healthy!

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.

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.