Major Food Confusion - No-Bake Brownies

Since being traumatized by Food Inc. a couple of weeks ago, I hate to say it but my diet took a sharp left turn! It's been crazy. Yes, last week I had grass-fed beef and again over the weekend I bought another piece of grass-fed beef. The problem isn't that. It's figuring out what to eat in the meantime. So as you can imagine I've been very very busy researching all over the internet. I also bought two of Brendan Brazier's books - Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life and also Thrive Foods: 200 Plant-Based Recipes for Peak Health. They are interesting. So yesterday I dove in and made several of the recipes in the books. About every other one is a hit. And every other one is a MAJOR FAIL!

Now, being that I'm a Super Foodie, this is not such a fun battle for me. I often wonder what to eat and then how to make them tasty. The challenge is amplified because I am NOT a salad person. I know...I know. What kind of sense does that make? A vegetarian-ish lifestyle and you don't care for salad? Are you crazy or what? Why yes, I just might be. But let me say that if you do happen to find yourself reading his books and you want to try some recipes, make the Salt and Vinegar Kale Chips because they're just really tasty and fun to eat! And also the Live Avocado Goddess Sauce. It's quite tasty too. I also made a smoothie in his book - YUCK! and also the Mango Coconut Energy Bars - awful! But I will state that I KNOW I can make those Mango Coconut Energy Bars taste divine. Mostly I just have to remove the flaxseed since I am NOT a fan of the flax seed. I know people say it has a nutty taste but mostly to me it tastes like fiber. And no, I don't care for the taste of fiber. LOL!

On the flip side, there is this girl Julie Morris at juliemorris.net that makes some tasty looking things. One of which includes these Raw Brownies that are just wrong! By wrong of course I mean so RIGHT! You must try this and eat the whole batch at once! Oh wait, that's bad advice! Eat HALF the batch at once. That's much better advice! Truly these taste like brownies. No LIE!

Julie Morris's No-Bake Brownies

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup medjool dates, pits removed
1 cup raw walnut pieces
½ cup cacao powder
pinch sea salt
1 Tbsp – ½ cup Navitas Naturals Sweetened Cacao Nibs, or regular raw cacao nibs (use quantity to taste) - optional

DIRECTIONS:

Mix: Place walnuts in a food processor and grind for a couple seconds to form a coarse flour. While machine is running, add pitted dates, cacao powder and salt, processing until a moist, crumb-like dough has formed. 

Form: Spread into an 8×8 inch pan, sprinkle with cacao nibs, and press firmly into a solid brownie layer. Cut into bite-size squares and serve. Alternately, press and roll brownie dough into small balls to make brownie bites.

  

Makes about 2 dozen small squares. 

 I have made these twice already. I added some chopped walnuts at the end and they truly taste like nut brownies. DELISH!


I know I'll find my way but right now I'm confused about what to eat and I feel like I need an arsenal of new foods. That's exactly it. Whenever you start something new you need new foods. But this is an evolving kind of thing. For example, I'm just not ready to give up my yogurt. It's just so creamy. The animal protein I can't do right now. Maybe later. Who knows.

In a way it's fun and in a way it's frustrating. It's fun because it gives me a whole new cuisine to explore and who doesn't love that? But at the same time it's hard to not have anything that I already know works and tastes good. But I had this same issue when I started eating more protein in general and from that came a multitude of tasty protein treats. So you never know what I might come up with. Stay tuned.

As for workouts...hmmm...I have no excuse but to say that my heart isn't in it. With that said though I did actually get in a good workout last night. But the gym was crazy crowded. I think I have to go back to working out at 8pm because that's when that gym is lightest. Also I absolutely MUST buy myself some new skates. I think that's going to happen this weekend. For example, had I had them this week that would have been perfect since it's SUMMER here in Southern Cali!! Beautiful weather we've been having! Just beautiful! I just miss the freedom that blading gives me so I really need new skates since my wheel broke on my existing pair. And even though summer's not really here, it will be here soon enough.

So my plan is to do resistance training 3 times a week - one upper body, one lower body and one full body and/or plyometrics. Yoga 1-2 times a week. Outdoor workout (blading/beach/track/stairs) once a week. So now I have a plan and I just have to implement it. I'll keep you posted on that too.

That's about it for now! Welcome weekend! Watch out...here we come!

Feeling Mighty Mexican! - Carne Asada Plate and Tostada

Hello there! Oh boy has it been hard to face any animal protein this week. Luckily for me I did have some grass-fed bavette.I marinated in this mojo sauce from Tyler Florence but think I could have just pan-fried it and it would have tasted just as good, to be honest. That meat is yummy.

So I made a yummy Carne Asada Plate the other day for lunch. It had carne asada, brown rice, avocado, simple refried beans (recipe below), homemade tomatillo salsa (recipe below) and I used some Greek yogurt for "sour cream". It was sooooo yummy!

Carne Asada Plate

Then a couple of days later I made myself this fabulous Carne Asada Tostada. I just took a Ezekiel tortilla and broiled it for several minutes after spraying with olive oil till it was crunchy but not burned. Then I spread some refried beans, put a slice, broken into pieces, of organic cheddar cheese on the beans to melt, added avocado, carne asada, tomatillo salsa, and Greek yogurt. Mmm...mmmm...mmm! Simple and so delicious! Ridiculously good!!!

Simple Refried Beans

1 can organic black beans

3 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

Simply heat the olive oil till warm over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until light brown and fragrant. Add black beans with liquid. Mash with a potato masher till fairly creamy but still with pieces of beans. Heat till heated through. 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

1 lb. tomatillos, husked and rinsed

4-5 serrano chilies

1 white onion, sliced ¼ inch thick

3-5 garlic cloves, peeled

½ c water

1/3 c chopped fresh cilantro, loosely packed

1 t (about) salt

1 t sugar (optional)

Place tomatillos and serannos on broiler pan. Broil 4” from heat for about 5 minutes (3-4 for serranos). Flip over and bake about 4-5 minutes more (3-4 for serranos). Remove and let cool.

Turn oven down to 425 degrees. Lay onions and garlic on cookie sheet. Roast about 15 minutes, stirring gently every couple of minutes. Cool to room temperature.

In a food processor or blender, pulse onions, garlic and serranos until finely chopped. Scoop mixture into a large bowl. Coarsely puree the tomatillos with their juice. Stir them into chilies. Stir in enough water to desired texture. Stir in cilantro.

Taste and season with salt. Keep in fridge for 5 days or freeze.

I think my favorite part is the refried beans. So delicious and so incredibly simple. Yummy. Wish I had more of that grass-fed beef. I would make that again for lunch. I actually preferred the tostada over the plate but truly both were delicious.

As for my workouts this week. Let's see. What did I do? I did some steady state cardio jumping between machines on Monday. I know, I know. Steady state is not "where it's at." However, I enjoy it and it's nice for my mind and body to just slow down and relax and that was what I was in the mood for. So I divided my time between the Precor AMT, rowing machine, treadmill and step mill. It was a nice change and something I haven't done for a long time. Tuesday I did yoga.

Wednesday I did this for my workout:
Planks - 3 x15 (hold 3-4 counts, drop to hips then back up)
Box Squats - 95# 3x10
Ham Glute Raise - bodyweight only 3x10
Incline Barbell press - 55# 3x10
Chest supported DB rows - 20# each 3x10

Then I went and met my lover in the parking lot. Hello...lover! Oh, I mean PROWLER!!! Haha! Yes, I reunited with the prowler. I did several runs and walks pushing 20 or 50 pounds. I think I did a total of 8 but I have no idea the length of the turf, maybe 50 yards and I was just going halfway so 25 yards or so. Yeah, I just about died. It was hard and I am out of shape. But I'm getting back in shape so this is just a measure for me. Give me 3 months and we'll see what I can push and do. It was fun! And that's really what matters most!

Yesterday I rested and got a massage. It was very nice. LOVE getting a massage. I'm looking forward to this weekend. How about all of you? Any great plans?

Pan-Seared Tuna

Pan-Seared Ahi Tuna

Can I just say YUMMY?!? I mean look at that thing! It was beyond delicious. I was so excited about it that I forgot to make some rice. But guess what? It didn't even need it. With the avocado and the oil in this recipe I was more than satisfied. Thanks to my sponsors Deb and Charlene for tonight's meal. Fresh ahi tuna from Charlene (well, Don really, but no one needs to know that ;-)) and fresh avocados from Deb's tree! My friends rock!

Mmmm...fresh tuna!

This is some of the tuna I got last night. I searched for a recipe earlier today but didn't find this one until later. And let me just say that I'm glad I found it. It's so tasty! Here's the recipe:

Pan-Seared Tuna with Avocado, Soy, Ginger, and Lime 

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence 

2 big handfuls fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped 

1/2 jalapeno, sliced 

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 

1 garlic clove, grated 

2 limes, juiced 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

Pinch sugar 

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

1 (6-ounce) block sushi-quality tuna 

1 ripe avocado, halved, peeled, pitted, and sliced

In a mixing bowl, combine the cilantro, jalapeno, ginger, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir the ingredients together until well incorporated. 

Place a skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the tuna generously with salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot oil and sear for 1 minute on each side to form a slight crust. Pour 1/2 of the cilantro mixture into the pan to coat the fish. Serve the seared tuna with the sliced avocado and the remaining cilantro sauce drizzled over the whole plate. 

Changes I made: 

~ Only had "sweet limes" so I used those and they were too sweet so I added 
some rice wine vinegar. 

~ Would definitely only use half the oil it calls for. I didn't need that much for searing or for the "marinade"

~ I used serrano instead of jalapeno

~ I used low-sodium soy sauce instead of regular

I haven't tried it but I would imagine it would be delicious on tilapia or halibut as well. Try it if you're a fish person and particular if you have a nice piece of fresh-caught ahi tuna.

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I really am not getting much done but I AM enjoying my weekend so yeah for me!!

Welcome 2012

So all the hullabaloo is over! Sad :-( But there is new life and a new year! I didn't really get the charging start I usually have on New Years. I wasn't as well rested as I usually am when I return from my holiday shenanigans. All that being said, I did make a point to write up some goals for 2012. I was not really great at hitting a lot of my goals for 2011 but I did hit some. Some are the same as last year but at least I wrote them up and have broken down the most important ones to become daily habits or scheduled them out to make sure I attain those goals. There is one particular goal that I'm excited to get started on and I'll write more about that as the time nears around mid-March.

One of my goals is to rename my blog to something more appropriate to me today. I feel that I'm far away from the figure competing world so I need to redo my blog. If anyone has any great idea for my new blog title, please feel free to share it with me.

So, how did everyone enjoy their holidays? Were they grand? I had fun as I always do but I missed THE SNOW!!!! It's so sad to have Christmas with no snow! Especially when you're not in Southern California. So hopefully my 2012 Christmas will be filled with snow. I'll just have to wait an extra year to enjoy the snow. Since there was no snow there were a lot of "snow" type things that didn't happen like sledding, snow hikes, and skiing! So I was a lot less active than I usually am at Christmas time although I did manage to make it to the gym a couple of times, went on a nice long walk with my aunt, and played Just Dance 3 with my niece. So I wasn't a total slouch but definitely more sedentary than usual and ate more than usual.

Needless to say, one of my goals is to get back into better shape and have my clothes fit me. I'm not doing anything too drastic or setting weight or body fat goals because those don't really work well for me. My goal is simple and just to fit comfortably in my wardrobe again. One thing that I think helped me is taking my fish oil and 1 tablespoon of my liquid vitamins. I've never taken the 2 tablespoons that are recommended because it always just seemed too much for me. So I'm back on my habit of taking those.

Yesterday I bought new wheels for my inline skates but only FOUR! Let me ask you this, if each skate has 4 wheels, how many wheels do I need? Yep, EIGHT! Ooops! So I went to the gym instead and got in a very good hammies and glutes workout! I'm feeling it today and I love it! I was an animal yesterday because I also marinated a pork loin and some chicken breasts to cook today. I made this marinade but used brown sugar instead of stevia.

Asian Pork Tenderloin

 

2-3 T lite soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 T Worcestershire sauce
8 drops stevia
2 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 T Asian chili paste
3/4 t pepper
1 (1 pound)  pork tenderloin

Place all ingredients except pork in a Ziploc bag. Mix well. Add pork. Close and put in fridge for 4-8 hours. (I did about 7 hours.) Flip over every hour or so.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Transfer pork into an aluminum foil-lined baking pan.

Roast in a preheated oven 60-90 minutes till meat thermometer reads 150. (I cooked mine 70 minutes.) Remove, and let stand 5 to 10 minutes before carving. 

I also made brown rice couscous with some veggies (onion, zucchini, mushrooms, celery) and garlic, ginger, salt and pepper. Very tasty! And quick! LOVE the brown rice couscous.

And then there was lunch today...mmm...so tasty!

Soba Noodles with Asian Chicken, green onions, sesame seeds, and julienned cucumbers

Tonight I have yoga. Yeah! Looking forward to that! I went on Tuesday and it was a great class. Just nice to be back in my routine and eating better and moving my body.

I'm really simplifying things in my life. So my motto for 2012 is eat less, move more. Simple and easy. And that's what I've been doing so far. No more getting hung up on calories, number of meals, macronutrients, micronutrients, meal timing, etc. etc. It's time to just move more and eat less and enjoy life and food! Yep! That's what 2012 will be looking like! Simple is key for 2012. Simplify my life and my food and my workouts!

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, is creativity." ~Charles Mingus

How were your holidays? Any fun or funny stories anyone needs to share?

Maca Marbles

I was originally going to make a post about Maca Balls until I made the recipe. As you know if you've been following my blog, I've been on a new maca mission. It has a multitude of benefits. But I've had a slight problem getting past the earthy taste. I finally found the beauty of hot chocolate with maca in it. But today I finished my almond milk and didn't feel like going to the grocery store for more. Realizing I had to get around to making something with maca for the morning I had to find another way to have it. I looked around on the internet and found some maca balls that I didn't have all the ingredients for. I also found some energy ball recipe. I got most of my inspiration (and direction) from this recipe. I added a few things though. I think I'll have to try some others with almond butter and possibly even add oats or something to them that's "carby" if you will.

Maca Marbles

10 pitted dates (soaked in hot water briefly)
1 cup raw pecans
1-2 tablespoons cacao powder (cocoa would work too)
3 tablespoons maca powder
8 drops stevia
1 teaspoon honey


Put pecans in food processor till finely ground (careful not to overgrind and make butter). Add cacao powder and maca powder. Pulse a few more times to mix. Add dates a couple at a time till right consistency. Don't make them to moist because they will heat up and release oil when you roll them. Add stevia and honey and pulse to mix. Taste and add more stevia and/or honey as needed to taste. Roll between palms to desired size. This made 24 marble-sized balls for me. I wanted to roll them in coconut but apparently I have none. So sad! They are tasty. Can't wait for tomorrow to see how I like them after the flavors have had a chance to meld.

Hope you all had a good weekend. It's going to be a great week!

Flog me! I've been a bad blogger! Also maca and veggies!

But the good news is that I have a new computer and now I can make happy blogposts once again! It's really hard to blog when you don't have a computer that works every day. Every other day just didn't cut it for me. But yeah for me I have a new one!

I've been working out like a good girl and eating all right but not great. Better but not the best I can. But to be honest I'm not sure I know what "healthy" eating is anymore. I'm lost somewhere in that thought process. Just not sure. I know I don't have to eat like I did for contest prep but I did that kind of crazy "dieting" for so long I forgot reality. And in some sense I've forgotten what is healthy and what is not. And besides there new research every day about what is good for you and what is bad for you. So, if I've got it straight I think that donuts and french fries are good for you and should be eaten at every meal in large quantities and veggies should be limited to once a day. Is that right? I must stop reading about nutrition and do what feels good for my body. I truly dislike that it's hard for me to discern that now when it used to be so easy for me.

And speaking of food, I think I've mentioned my aversion to animal protein lately. Not all the time but often I don't want to eat it. So I've made a conscious decision to have more plant protein on hand. Yes, I know that plant proteins aren't as "complete" as animal proteins but I've really had to rethink my protein and I know I can have some of both. Don't get me wrong. I still love steak when I eat it. But I'm not so much for the pork and chicken which is so weird. Particularly the pork. I'm a big pork lover but not right now or as often. No idea why.

MACA

I've also taken on a new supplement. Or should I say superfood? It's maca powder so it really is a food and not a supplement. Of course like anything else you research on the internet you can find both supporting and dismissing information about its health benefits. My interest in maca has to do with the idea that it "balances your hormones". I feel like my estrogen levels are low but I haven't had them tested. Maybe I should but in the meantime I'm just going to take this maca and see what it does for me. I'm on my fourth day of it and so far I haven't noticed anything. At least I don't think I have. What I like about it is that it's not a hormone and it's not synthetic. Some benefits that have been found for mind and body:

• Increases energy and endurance
  
• Increases stamina
• Improves sexual function in men and women
• Enhances fertility in people and animals
• Reduces hormonal dysfunction during menopause & andropause
  
• Can regulate hormonal imbalances
• Has a beneficial action on the circulatory system; Speeds wound healing and reduces anemia
• Enhances memory, learning, and mental ability
• Has a beneficial action on the circulatory system; gives skin a more youthful appearance
• Good for healthy teeth and bones
• Acts as a fungistatic and bacteriostatic
• Acts as an anticarcinogen and antioxidant
• Is an alternative to anabolic steroids, helps to build muscle
  
• Is non addictive

MACA FLAVOR AND TASTE:

Let me just say that I am NOT a fan of maca powder flavor. I was told and read online that it tastes like malt. Hahaha! NO! It does NOT taste like malt - big fat lie! I've tried it in a different way each of the last four days.

Day 1 - 1/2 tablespoon in my oatmeal -blech! Terrible! I added tons of brown sugar and maple syrup just to try to get it down my gullet!

Day 2 - Cranberry pineapple vanilla protein smoothie with 1/2 tablespoon maca - okay but I could still taste the "earthiness" of the maca

Day 3 - 1/2 tablespoon in about 1/2 cup milk heated - so yucky!

Day 4 - WINNER! 1/2 tablespoon in "hot chocolate" made with milk, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cacao powder and sugar. This is so far the only way I will eat it. Next time I will blend all ingredients and then heat though because there were still some clumps.

So what have I learned? That maca in its powdered form is really not very tasty. It tastes like ginseng and actually is called "Peruvian ginseng". If you like the taste of roots and dirt you'll be good to go but if not then you will have to mask the flavor of the powder or perhaps take the capsules.

MY MACA RESULTS SO FAR (4 DAYS IN):

The other thing I've noticed is about 2-3 hours after I eat breakfast I'm STARVING! So very very hungry! Just to note, I've been eating bigger breakfasts so I haven't really been that hungry at that time but since the second day of maca I've been STARVING! I have asthma and rarely have to take my asthma inhaler but when I do I get this same hunger, like a completely empty stomach feeling! It's crazy. This is that same hunger sensation. I'll eat and it continues for a little while until I have lunch and then I'm fine. Could it be that it acts as an alternative to anabolic steroids? Hmm...maybe. And then again, maybe not. I'll have to follow and see.

Interestingly enough the other thing I've noticed over the past two nights is that I sleep like a log! I haven't slept this deeply in a long time so it's fantastic! I'll see if it continues but I'll take it for now. It may not give me energy but it sure puts me to sleep! Ha! Take that research!!

So I will keep you posted as the weeks go by. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do 3 weeks on, 1 week off or 3 months on, 1 month off. I'll decide and you will get to find out through my blog postings. I am curious if anyone else has taken it. And if so for what reasons and what are your thoughts/results from taking it?

VEGETABLES

So, I've gotten a little more creative with my vegetables lately. I'm just bored with veggies. That's all there is to it. My yoga teacher had told me about this recipe they had made on Thanksgiving and it oddly sounded good. I say oddly because it's a Brussels sprouts recipe and I'm not a big fan of Brussels sprouts. Here's the simple recipe from Martha Stewart's Whole Living magazine:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Grapes with Walnuts 

• 24 ounces brussels sprouts (about 8 cups), halved or quartered if large
• 24 ounces grapes
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons fresh thyme
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped 

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. On two rimmed baking sheets, toss brussels sprouts and grapes with oil and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Roast, until caramelized and tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Drizzle each tray with 1 teaspoon vinegar and scrape up any caramelized bits with a wooden spoon. Toss in walnuts.

I cut the recipe in half and also cut the sprouts in half just so they matched up in size to the grapes. This recipe was really good. I even went back for seconds. Yummy. I will definitely make it again.

So, this kind of started a new thing for me which is finding new ways to make vegetables that aren't the usual way. I just can't deal with being bored with my veggies. It's the winter and time for roasting veggies anyway so I'm happy about that because I love roasted veggies. 

I made this recipe last night that was simple and a delicious way to get in my veggies. I'm sorry but I have no idea what the quantities of anything are.

Asian Tofu and Baby Bok Choy Mee Krob

Mee krob noodles (very thin rice vermicelli)

Baby bok choy (cut in quarters lenghtwise)

Medium firm tofu

Low sodium soy sauce

Ginger & garlic paste (fresh ginger and garlic peeled and ground to a paste in the food processor)

Chili garlic sauce

Sesame seeds

Cook the mee krob noodles for about 2 minutes in boiling water. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Heat large pan over medium high heat. Add oil of choice and saute tofu with soy sauce and ginger and garlic paste. Add mee krob and saute. Remove to plate/bowl. Add baby bok choy, soy sauce, ginger & garlic paste, chili garlic sauce, some water. Saute until desired tenderness. Add noodles and tofu back in. Serve. Easy and delish!!!

That's about it for now. I'll be back on my blogging now since I can actually use my computer now! Yay for computers and technology that sucks away every last second you have! :-) Have a fantastic weekend!

Fabulous Meal #1...DONE!

My mini-goal for last week was to make one fabulous meal at least every other week and I did just that last night. It was so delicious. I made Vietnamese Spring Rolls with shrimp and pulled pork. Dessert was an Apple Crisp with vanilla ice cream. Oh yes! Quite an amazing meal. And yes, I did get so carried away eating it that I actually forgot to take pictures of the actual spring rolls! Oops!

I basically followed this recipe for spring rolls from  allrecipes.com. I didn't make the hoisin peanut sauce and instead I purchased the San J Thai Peanut Sauce. It was tasty. I did make the other dipping sauce though. I also added this Vietnamese BBQ Pulled Pork from closetcooking.com.

 Vietnamese Spring Rolls 

Rice vermicelli (I actually ended up with Mee Krob which is thinner than rice vermicelli), cooked

Spring Roll Wrappers (1 for each roll)

Cooked shrimp (2-3 per roll)

Butter leaf lettuce

Fresh mint

Fresh Thai basil (plain basil is fine if you can't find Thai)

Fresh cilantro

Cucumbers, julienned

Carrots, julienned

Avocado, thinly sliced

Large flat bowl of room temperature water (slightly larger than the spring roll wrappers)

Arrange all except the wrappers on a platter.

Sweet and Spicy Dipping Sauce

4 teaspoons fish sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced (I didn't add this and was glad I didn't)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic chili sauce

Mix all together in a small bowl for dipping.

Vietnamese BBQ Pulled Pork

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fish sauce (I used half fish sauce and half low-sodium soy sauce)
1 lime (juice)
2 birds eye chilies (sliced)
1 (3 pound) pork butt

1. Heat the sugar in a pan on medium-high heat until it melts, caramelizes and turns a light golden brown.
2. Carefully add the water and heat until the caramel dissolves. (Be careful! When you add the water, the caramel hardens immediately and splatters up a little.)
3. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and chilies and simmer to reduce by half, about 6-10 minutes.
4. Put the pork in the slow cooker, pour 1/2 of the 'bbq' sauce over it and cook on low heat for 8 hours.
5. Remove the pork from the slow cooker, let cool and then shred with a pair of forks.
6. Skim the fat from the juices and place them in a sauce pan along with the remaining 'bbq' sauce.

How to make the spring rolls:

1) Place spring roll wrapper in bowl of water until completely wet. Place on a large flat plate. Wrapper will still be hard. Don't worry. It softens as you "build" your spring roll.

2) Place a piece of lettuce on wrapper.

3) Arrange vegetables and herbs on lettuce leaving room on either end.

4) Add shrimp and/or pork

5) Fold in edges and then roll up tightly (like a burrito)

6) Dip in peanut sauce and sweet and spicy sauce. Alternatively you can spoon sauce into the already bitten spring roll. Enjoy! 

Apple Crisp

5 cups apples, peeled and thinly sliced

2/3 cup sugar (I mixed 1/3 cup white, 1/3 cup brown)

2 T flour

1 t cinnamon

1 t vanilla

Combine all together. Pour into a buttered or sprayed 9x13 pan.

Topping:

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup butter

Mix with a fork or hands until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of apples. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Let cool slightly. Serve in shallow bowls topped with vanilla ice cream.

Crunchy Shrimp Salad

Crunchy Shrimp Salad

4 oz broiled shrimp (shrimp, cayenne, paprika, fresh pressed garlic)

1 scallion

1 shallot

1/2 yellow bell pepper

1 Persian cucumber

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon honey

sea salt to taste

Small dice all veggies and chop shrimp. Mix all together in a bowl. DELICIOUS!

Day 10 - Feeling good! Making progress!

So here I am 10 days into my new plan. Let me tell you how it's going.

My food has been really on plan. I have really only had one day that I didn't eat 2 meals on plan, meaning I had the calories right but my macros were pretty whack! Now keep in mind that I made my plan so I COULD stick to it 95% at least. And so far I've done that eating 43 of my so far 45 meals on plan. Again I'm taking 2-4 weeks till I check in with myself and see how my plan is working.

As for workouts...uuhhhh...now that's where I've been lacking. After my hammies and glute workout last Wednesday, I was sore till Sunday! That wasn't great for me because it made my other workouts challenging. I couldn't really do any HIIT because it would have been ineffective. So I skipped my HIIT last week entirely (I was going to do two 20-minute sessions) and I only did hammies and glutes once. With that being said, my workout yesterday consisted of the same hammies and glute workout exactly from last week and guess what? Today I can actually walk fairly normally. Yes, the body is amazing at adapting! However, my workout Monday was nothing short of pathetic. So today I'll be doing HIIT as planned and tomorrow will be back, bis or tris and abs. I love doing full body workouts. But the elbow isn't feeling good enough yet to make that workout effective so for now I'm doing some body part splits again. Just until my elbow heals up and then it will be back to full body. I really like that much more! And Friday again I'll be hitting my hammies and glutes because on Saturday and Sunday I'm not leaving my house. No driving for me this weekend. That's for sure!

So I feel like I'm making progress and if nothing else at least I feel like I'm doing something to change the way I'm feeling and the way I feel in my own skin, let alone my clothes! And that feels like progress. And that is what I'm trying to do. Progress to another level.

Oh, by the way, I accidentally made microwavable scones the other day. I had made some "breaded" flounder and then had left over "breading" (brown rice flour with many herbs!) and some egg so I just mixed the 2 up and added a little almond milk to make a paste. Then I spread it on some parchment paper but it was pretty thick. Then I microwaved it till it dried out. I'm so bummed I didn't take pictures but honestly I didn't think it was going to be all that! HA! Here's the recipe:

"Breaded" Flounder and Microwave Brown Rice Herb Scone

"Breaded" Dover Sole - same idea but thinner fish

8 oz flounder fillet (I cut mine in two 4-oz fillets)

1 egg, beaten in a separte bowl

1/2 cup brown rice flour mixed with the following

To taste: oregano, basil, garlic powder, thyme, bruschetta seasoning, Garlic Gold Parmesan - I used all dried because that's what I had on hand but this would be even better with fresh I'm sure!

 

Heat a skillet sprayed with cooking spray (or coated with oil of choice) over medium high heat. Place flounder in egg then place in brown rice mixture getting as much coating as possible on fish. Place in  pan and cook on one side. Flip to other side and spray pan again before putting on other side. I think it took about 5-10 minutes to cook on both sides.

In the meantime mix remaining egg with flour mixture. Add just enough milk of choice to make a thick paste. Spread on parchment paper and microwave. I think it ended up being about 3-4 minutes total time. I did flip it over about 2 minutes in. The thin areas were like a cracker and the thicker were like a scone. Delicious!

I believe I will make that again for dinner (and if I do I will definitely take pictures) but I may sub the brown rice flour with ground oats and/or some almond meal or coconut flour. Oh, the possibilities are endless!

Hope you all have a fantastic day! Ciao for now!

Third day in ...cruising right along!

Hunger...what is it...why does it exist? Hmmm...I guess it's to let you know you need to eat. Now...the thing is that you sometimes have to have a little hunger when you're going into a caloric deficit so you can get a little tighter/leaner. So, today I have that hunger. Yep! Sure do! But I know tomorrow I get to have a "refeed", a caloric surplus! That's better to have only every once in a while instead of every day, don't you think? Haha!

So in the midst of this hunger, I thought to myself..."Self, make yourself some kale chips to tie you over." And guess what Self said? Self agreed that that was a fantastic idea. So they are currently in the oven and I can't wait. I made my usual olive oil and sea salt. And I also made Cheesy Italian Kale Chips. Can't wait to try these. I just put in olive oil, sea salt, bruschetta seasoning, garlic powder, grated parmesan, and red pepper flakes. Smells fantastic. The key to kale chips, for me anyway, is to use enough sea salt to balance out the bitterness of the kale. I think I will have to try some Asian style kale chips next. Mmmm...sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, garlic sauce, rice vinegar?...oh boy! Those sound delish! Must try next time. I still have 2 bunches of kale so I must think of something!

Today marks the third day of my new plan. So far I really like it. I'm not as strict with myself as I had been before. I make sure to meet my macronutrients and I'm making sure to eat pre- and post-workout accordingly. I readjust my eating "plan" for the day to make sure my higher calories and carbs are around my workout. So far so good. I'm going to do this for about 4 weeks unless I feel terrible then I'll change something after a couple of weeks. But at least 2 weeks.

Since I'm still injured (tennis elbow) I have to watch what upper body I do, as well as not being able to do squats with the weight I like or do deadlifts really at all. It's just too much strain for my elbow. In the meantime I'm icing the heck out of my elbow and just letting it heal. So far so good. It will take a while but I'm being patient and doing what I can in the meantime. This means no "flies" - as in chest fly, reverse fly. Also I can't do side lat raise! DEFINITE NO on that...very painful. Front lat raise hurts slightly so I just did super light weights. So yesterday this was my SHOULDER and CHEST REHAB/BEGINNER WORKOUT:

Dumbbell Shoulder Press 1x12 15#, 3x10 20#
Side-leaning Side Lat Raise 1x10 15# - NOT GOOD
Dumbbell Front Lat Raise 3x10 10#
Incline Rear Delt Raise (bending elbows & moving dumbbells toward forehead) 3x10 10#
Incline DB Chest Press 3x12 15#
Arnold Press 3x10 15#
Push Ups off Dumbbells 1x6 - ALSO NOT GOOD

Tabata fnisher: 8 rounds - 2 of each, 20 seconds push, 10 seconds rest
1) Speed squats
2) Burpees
3) Mountain climbers
4) Speed skip

It was a good workout and definitely had me sweating by the end. Keep in mind that I haven't worked out for quite a while so my body's trying to re-acclimate. My quads were already a little sore from the day before's beach workout. And today, they were even sorer.

OH MY LORD! The kale chips are out and I am most certainly making the Cheesy Italian Kale Chips again...very very soon! They are AMAZING!!!! The other ones taste so blah in comparison! HA! Oh well...now I know!


This was today's HAMMIES and GLUTES and ABS WORKOUT:
Warm-up:
10 x Nick Tumminello's 4-point squat
10 per leg bodyweight reverse lunges, alternating legs
10 per leg front-to-back leg swing
10 per leg adductor/abductor leg swing
10 per leg high knee to lunge
10 x Nick Tumminello's 4-point squat

Full squat with bar 12 to warm up - bar only, 3x8 95#
Single leg deadlift 3x10 20 #DB
Shoulder-elevated Hip Thrust 3x10 35# plate
Walking Lunges w/ 35# bar 3x10 each leg
Back Extension (glute focus) 3x10 10# plate
Crunch on Bosu 1x20, 2x10
Hip Lifts 3x10
Oblique Twists 3x10 each side

After I finished this workout I would have sworn that I had done straight quad work the entire time. My quads were TIRED! I went for a massage later though and she worked out my quads and they feel better. My body is just very busy "remembering" what it was like to work out! LOL!

In case you want a real "recipe" for the kale chips, this is how it went down. Measurements are approximate. I didn't actually measure anything except the oil and parmesan.

CHEESY ITALIAN KALE CHIPS

1/2 bunch kale, removed from stems in similar size pieces - washed and spun dry in salad spinner

1/2 t olive oil (can use more if you desire)

1/2 t sea salt

3 teaspoons bruschetta seasoning (or some kind of Italian seasoning)

1/2 t garlic powder

1 t crushed red pepper

4 teaspoons grated parmesan cheese

Mix all together in bowl and spread on non-stick cookie sheet or foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, turning and moving around about every 3-5 minutes. That's it. Remove and eat! Yummy!

Aah...there! My novel is complete! Hope you enjoyed it and had a great day! Have a nice rest of your week. Only 9 more days till Carmageddon! It's gonna be TERRIBLE! But the good news is that the cafe on the next street is having a street party from 11am to 4pm that day! I think I'll have to go join the festivities, and wave to the people trying to follow the detours!!

Stay on track...toe the line...

With an extra day to prepare for my week I went into today much more prepared than usual. I ended up cooking quite a few things yesterday. This is what happened in the Kitchen d' Erin:
* Baked yams
* Jamie Eason's Chicken Meatloaf Muffins
* Spicy Couscous Summer Salad (with brown rice couscous)
* Spicy Broiled Shrimp
* Roasted kabocha (patiently waiting for my protein powder to arrive so I can make some kabocha protein waffles)

Hmmm...it seemed like I made more than that. I need my protein powder! I have 2 different protein powders on their way and neither of them have arrived. It's too bad I like MGN's protein powder because it always shocks me how SSLLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW they are at getting orders out. Ugh! Oh well. I should have ordered it two weeks in advance. It's my own fault!

Got up this morning nice and early and headed to the gym for my 20 minutes of HIIT on the spin bike. OY! I'm not used to that workout. It was HARD but felt really great to really just kill it with each interval. TOUGH though, that is for sure. I did kind of random intervals. This is what I did:

30 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

40 seconds push – 50 seconds recover

50 seconds push – 40 seconds recover

30 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 60 seconds recover

60 seconds push – 30 seconds recover

50 seconds push – 40 seconds recover

40 seconds push – 50 seconds recover

30 seconds push 

I did a little cooldown basically so I could breathe again and then did a nice long stretch. LOVED it! Hadn't done 20 minutes of HIIT for a long time and it was really nice for a change. 

Can't wait for my workout tomorrow. Hammies and glutes but taking it easy. I'm still healing so I'm not going to push a lot of weight and just really concentrate on form. Wish me luck. 

Hope your short week is off to a great start! Mine is! GOODNIGHT!

I took my knee out for a test drive today.

And it did fairly well. I did just body weight glutes and hammies. There were a couple of things I did that felt a little weird. And I was going to do step ups but I think there is something about that exercise that I'm not doing right. I don't think my knee tracks over my foot. I actually think that's how I originally hurt it but then I forgot about it until today. I'm pretty sure that was the original injury. See...the good thing about getting older is your memory isn't as good so you can't really remember why/how/when you hurt yourself originally! Isn't that awesome?!? LOL!

Meals today:
1) Pre-workout: Matcha shake w/ 1 scoop protein powder and 1/4 cup oats; also glutamine and BCAAs
2) Post-workout: 1/2 cup Voskos Greek yogurt w/ 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 t instant decaf coffee, 2 T pecans, 1/2 packet stevia, 1/4 cup oatmeal - yummy wow-wow!
3) 3 egg whites, 2 eggs (yeah, I was having an egg-cracking problem - don't ask), 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/2 apple w/ 1 T peanut butter
4)1 slice of Iris's turkey/chard roll-up (very yummy with homemade tomato sauce...yum!), 1/2 tilapia fillet, 1/2 cup brown rice
5)1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 apple
6) Half batch of Protein Oatmeal Cookies!!!! WAHOO!!! SOOOOOOO TASTY!!!
7) Still to come...mighty green smoothie (I need some veggies!)

Why the defeated mindset? Does it ever surprise you how quickly you can go from being highly motivated to being quite defeated? Are we so used to being told that we can't do something that after 40+ years you actually believe you can't? If you read my post from yesterday you know I'm highly motivated for 2 major...MAJOR goals. Well, in researching one of them already today, I started asking myself: What am I doing? I can't do that. I've never been good at that. Who am I kidding? But I guess the good thing is that I didn't let that stop me. I decided that plenty of other people have done it so why not me? Yes it may be harder for me and yes, it will be a challenge. But what is life if not for challenge? So I will forge ahead and go with my general plan and see what happens. I can only shoot for my dream and you never know what might happen along the way!  As long as I'm headed in the right direction then I'm doing something. And as long as I'm going in the direction with the best of my abilities and pushing myself past what I think is possible then I'm succeeding. That's all there is to it.

Just wrote up the Protein Oatmeal Cookie recipe. Oh, these are good...really really good. I LOVE them! I might eat them every day for every meal! Okay...kidding! Just kidding! But they are THAT good! I also made some of my Orange Cranberry Cereal Bars. Yep! Danger! Watch out! Tasty treats all around me. Can I be in control? Yes, yes I can!

Hope your week is off to a great start! Here's to another great week and moving closer and closer to those goals we keep setting for ourselves! YES! We've got this, right? RIGHT!

Ibuprofen makes me hungry? Weird...(VERY random post!)

This whole resting thing is one thing. But to be so hungry when I'm not working out is...ODD! Very odd indeed. I'm proud of myself for taking my rest in stride. It's mentally kind of challenging but it's good for my body I suppose.

My knee isn't hurting now which is good. It just feels a little tweaky still. I'm down to 1 ibuprofen 2 times a day. Not bad. I'm still resting it until Friday (I think). When I say rest, I mean I'm resting my knee and my whole body. I feel all right about that. I mean RESTING...nothing.

I found, for me, a GREAT treat! Yummy! It's this agar agar pudding recipe and I made it into Matcha Green Tea Pudding this morning. OMG! DELISH! I LOVE my matcha and this was just another way to love it! So tasty!

Matcha Protein Pudding Recipe

Basic agar agar "jelly" from this recipe - 1 1/3 cups almond milk and 3 heaping teaspoons agar agar flakes

Once set, add in whatever you want. Here's my matcha measurements:

1/2 batch of agar agar "jelly"

1/4 - 1/2 cup almond milk

1 T matcha green tea powder 

1 scoop protein powder

Blend all together with immersion blender or in blender or food processor. 

To be honest this didn't go at all as I thought it would and I left the stove on when I thought I had turned it off. But even with all of that, as the blogger of this recipe said, it is fail proof. It still worked like a charm. Can't WAIT to make some strawberry pudding...YUM!

Here are a couple of photos I've taken and keep forgetting to post so these are kind of random...but random is good, right? Right?

Mochi & Matcha

I had this for breakfast the other day! Brown rice mochi and matcha green tea protein shake! Oh boy! It was DELISH! And also my other breakfast time companions - Nature's Plus Source of Life liquid multivitamin and Carlson's Fish Oil. I take one tablespoon of each. I like the liquid vitamin because I can take what I need. Full dose is supposed to be two tablespoons. As for the fish oil I have 1 tablespoon in the morning. I would like to split that up during the day but I always forget if I try to do 1 teaspoon at breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition to those I take calcium, vitamin D, evening primrose oil and Celadrin daily. Find what works for you and take your vitamins and/or minerals.

Oatmeal cooking

Egg & Egg whites cooking

This is pretty much the scene on my stove each and every morning. Sometimes I switch it up but generally speaking I have egg whites and/or eggs and oatmeal. LOVE my oatmeal and the eggs help me get some veggies in since I like them better with eggs!

Yesterday's breakfast

This was a very big breakfast for me - 3 egg whites, 1 egg, 1 zucchini, 6 mushrooms, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 6 strawberries, 4 walnut halves! DELISH! I always eat my eggs first and treat my oatmeal as "dessert". GREAT way to start my day. Look at all those nutritious items! AWESOME!

I have a new best friend I think I am going to love to hate! It's THIS!!!! The RUMBLE ROLLER!!

Compact Rumble Roller

Rolling the ol' IT Band with this? Yes, pain is what it would be called. Owwwww!!! But on the neck is sheer bliss. The upper back? Again some pretty good pain. The glutes feel good as do the adductors. And on the latissimus? SHOOT ME! SOOOOO painful! Since that is an area that is always super tight on me, rolling on it with this torture device roller is super duper painful!!!


I must go make my dessert now. Hmmm...what will it be? What will it be? I must go decide and I'll let you know tomorrow! Yippee!!! Goodnight!

I just got some....satisfaction...

What can I say? I'm half-Korean so what do you think I grew up on? Yep, that's right...white rice! And still to this day there is nothing quite like it in my book. And do I get cravings for that? Why, yes, I do! And do I think it's okay to eat white rice every once in a while? ABSOLUTELY! So I did just that today. I was craving it so I went and got a nice ol' serving of Kalbi Plate from Ono Hawaiian BBQ.

Kalbi plate from Ono Hawaiian BBQ

 It comes with white rice (the way we made it in our K household - kinda sticky), 3-4 kalbi (short ribs), Hawaiian macaroni salad (yep, real mayo there!), and steamed cabbage. I didn't think I wanted or would eat the whole thing and if I did I would be falling asleep at my desk this afternoon but guess what? I did want and I did eat the whole thing and I didn't fall asleep at all at my desk and in fact felt energetic! I ate that meal and enjoyed every stinkin' bite!! It was so very delicious. The texture of the rice, the yumminess of the meat, the creaminess of the macaroni salad, and the "healthy" taste of the cabbage. It was all sooooo delicious and therefore very satisfying! In fact I kept being shocked at myself because all afternoon I didn't have ONE craving! So, what have I learned here?

Well, when you're craving something...I mean really craving it...as in it doesn't go away for a few days, then eat it and ENJOY!!!! Truly enjoy. Sit there with it and don't watch TV, talk on the phone, text or be on your computer. Just be LOST in the moment of the meal. There is NOTHING like it and honestly I think that complete satisfaction is something I've been missing from my meals lately. It was AWESOME!!! Yummy!!!

As for my hunger level after, not so much. I didn't eat for about 5 or 6 hours later. THAT'S how satisfying it was! Fantastic! But what I did have tonight was a Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake - 1 scoop protein powder, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, about 8 ice cubes...YUMMY!

And now it's wash the dished and off to bed I go. It's supposed to be nice weather this weekend and I can't wait! Wahoo! ENJOY it!

Visions of Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Last night I went to sleep while visions of cinnamon swirl bread danced in my head! I added my photo to that recipe. I can't wait to eat it again today. I almost started out my morning with that but then I thought I would use it as reward food later! HA! I mean...look at it...makes you drool practically doesn't it?

So needless to say my review on this is definitely a 10 out of 10 on several counts.
Flavor: 10
Easy to make: 10
Easy to eat: 10!!
Good macronutrient breakdown: 10

When I made it I added about 8 walnut halves chopped up just for a little texture. I think that added a little sumpin' to it! TASTY!!!!! I have figured something out. I LOVE bread as you all know by now. Unfortunately for me I also know I can't eat it with wild abandon without my body suffering some of the repercussions of it! So if I can make protein muffins and bread, that really helps take the edge off of the "bread NEED". So yes, more loaves of this bread, zucchini loaf, and protein muffins to come! Yes, great plan!

That's it for now. I really must go get some things done now. Have a fantabulous day! WOOT WOOT!!!!!

Feeling better already! OMG! You MUST make this bread NOW!!!

Well, I'm off to a rip-roaring start today! I got up bright and early...before 5 and headed to the gym. Drank/ate my shake with oats mixed in first. Did my Back and Plyo Legs workout. Sometimes the exercises in that are hard. Today they were hard. Finished up with a few ab exercises - hanging leg raises (with straight legs), cable crunches, and crunches on a Swiss ball. Stretched briefly and headed home for shower and more food. Ate my second meal (egg whites and oatmeal) and headed to work. Honestly, I couldn't wait for today to start so I could get to work and eat my third meal. I made Jamie Eason's Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Here's the recipe I got off of her Facebook page. I can't wait to eat it!!!!

Jamie Eason's Cinnamon Swirl Bread
 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray.

In small bowl combine: (set aside)
1/3 cup Ideal, Truvia or Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl combine: (whisk together)
1 1/2 cups oat flour + 2 scoops vanilla whey protein
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Ideal, Truvia or Splenda

In a medium bowl combine: (whisk together & add to lrg bowl)
2 egg whites or 1 whole egg
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (Almond Breeze)
1/3 cup or 1 4oz jar of babyfood applesauce
1/4 cup of greek yogurt

Pour a shallow layer of batter into the loaf pan (about 1/4 of the batter). Sprinkle heavily with half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter & cinnamon/sugar on top. Draw a knife through the batter to marble. Bake for 45 to 50 min. Let cool for 10 min. Bread will be dense.

Makes 12 servings:
70 calories
1.34 g fat
8.4 g carbs
6 g protein

I will be eating 4 servings since that is about how much I need. Hurry up 10:00 and get here!  Hahaha! I can't WAIT!!

YIPPEEE!!!! It's 10:08! I can eat my yummy Cinnamon Swirl Bread! Bye! Gonna go do that now! Be back later with my review and also will post a picture later toady!

Monday's Food Log (AKA: A Day of Oats)

Well, here comes the accountability! Day 1 of my new plan is here! Read on to see what it turned out to be!!!

1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats with cherry tomatoes, side of orange bell pepper (just in the mood...don't ask...I'm weird!)
2) 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup oats
3) 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1 cup roasted kabocha and CINNAMON!
4) Salad with 4 oz ground Italian chicken mix and red wine vinaigrette with 1 T olive oil, dessert was 1/4 cup oatmeal with a touch of almond milk and 3 walnut halves
5) Same as Meal 3
6) Salad with 4 oz shrimp with cucumber salad and 2 T roasted pumpkin seeds...mmmmmm...yummy!

 7) Pumpkin Souffle with 1/2 T NuttZo & 1 t coconut oil - yes, it has returned!!! Haha! I LOVE this!!! Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was quite hungry between meal 3 and 4. I was also hungry after meal 6. But lucky me I got to have pumpkin souffle. Wow! I haven't had that for a long, long time. I forgot how much I love it!

Peanut Shrimp with Cucumber Salad

OH MY! HOLY YUMMINESS abounds!  I was just craving something like this. I looked around online and combined some recipes till I came up with this. I would love to put the shrimp over rice or with noodles. But tonight I just mixed them together kind of, ate the cucumbers and shrimp and drank the "juice" that was left over (spicy sweet peanutty goodness)!

Cucumber Salad (Spicy as you want it)

3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup vinegar

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 serrano, Thai, or jalapeno, finely chopped (seeds and membranes removed to lessen spiciness)

24-36 drops stevia (or 1/4 cup sugar if you prefer)

Mix all together. Chill and serve. So good and refreshing!

Peanut Shrimp

24 large shrimp (31/40 count)

4 T PB2 (or 2-3 T peanut butter)

1 1/2 T rice wine vinegar

2 t garlic chili sauce

1 t dark sesame oil

4 drops stevia

1/4 - 1/2 t ginger powder

1/4 - 1/2 t garlic powder

1-3 T water

Combine all ingredients except shrimp and water. Add water to desired consistency. Should be like a thin paste. Add shrimp and stir to coat. Broil or fry in pan. I pan fried it so it would keep more of the sauce. ;-)Eat with noodles, rice, or cucumber salad!