When we look into eating healthier meals, we can start by
cutting out cooking or frying with oil.
I steam or lightly boil vegetables and other foods, and then add a
little olive oil or better yet flax seed oil, afterward. Flax seed oil is delicious on cooked pasta
and baked potatoes. Some quick,
nutritious tasty foods include: Amy’s quarter pound veggie burger(s),
Gardenburger original veggie burger, Amy’s spinach pizza---add your own veggies
including more spinach, mushrooms, onions, artichoke hearts, and some of Kashi
pizzas. Read labels on veggie burgers
and pizzas as well.
Quick and easy recipes: Try spaghetti squash with or without Parmesan
cheese (could use semi-hard goat cheese grated) with marinara sauce (low or no
salt/sugar). Try an eggplant “parmesan”
with sliced wet (or dipped in rice or almond milk) eggplant coated lightly with
unbleached or whole grain flour in frying pan (no oil but water to lightly
steam briefly to soften or simply put straight in roasting pan at 350 degrees
for 5 minutes each side), then in roasting pan cover eggplant with low/no salt
& low/no sugar/no fake sugar marinara sauce, top final layer with a
combination of shredded rice “cheese” or veggie “cheese”, sliced/shredded
almond mozzarella-style “cheese”, and maybe some goat cheese. Season it with spices like basil, oregano,
and garlic; then bake approximately 25-35 minutes at 350 degrees, keeping an
eye on the cheese. For dinner or lunch,
try boiling rice pasta, linguine or spaghetti, or veggie pasta, or a mix or both,
add onion or onion family, mushrooms (boiled part of the time), sliced garlic
cloves, and some other small cut up vegetables like bok choy or zucchini, if
adding broccoli steam for 4-6 minutes, throw in 5-6 shrimp or cooked (not
fried) 4 ounces white meat chicken or fish, add flax oil (maybe a little olive
oil) and season with garlic or other spices.
Or try steamed vegetables with a baked or sweet potato or brown rice with
5-6 shrimp or 4 ounces of fish or white meat chicken later adding flax seed oil
to potato instead of rich fixings. Or
you could add chives and soy or coconut yogurt or maybe rarely a little
low-fat/fat-free organic plain yogurt.
Try modifying a pad thai or
Chinese meal but skip the oil and frying.
Try this variation on pad thai recipe on about.com with 8 oz. pad thai
noodles or rice linguine, ½ cup soft tofu (add with last of sauce), 4 green
onions separating white and green parts and slice, 4 cloves minced garlic fresh,
1 tsp. sliced/grated ginger, optional 1 fresh chili sliced, 3-4 small baby bok
choy or Chinese cabbage chopped, 2-3 cups bean sprouts, optional 1/3 cup fresh
coriander/cilantro, ½ cup chopped cashews.
For sauce ¾ -1 & ½ Tbsp. tamarind paste (Asian store), ¼ cup veggie
stock or fake chicken (can use low salt veggie/fake chicken bouillon), 3 &
½ Tbsp. soy sauce or wheat free version, ½-3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper, either 2
Tbsp. Agave sweetener syrup or equivalent Stevia sweetener to taste, ½ tsp.
ground white pepper, and other: 2-7 Tbsp. veggie or fake chicken stock or bouillon
with water. Preparation:
1.
Bring a pot of water
to a boil and switch off heat. Soak noodles for 4-6 minutes until limp but too
firm to eat. Drain and rinse with cold water. Noodles must be under-cooked
in order to come out right as cook more later.
2.
Combine 'pad Thai
sauce' ingredients in a cup, stirring well to dissolve the paste and sweetener (note
that if your tamarind paste is thick, only add 1 Tbsp. If thin/runny, add 1.5
Tbsp.). Note that sauce should have a STRONG-tasting flavor that tastes sour-sweet
first, followed by salty and spicy. Set aside.
3.
Warm a wok or large
frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. water or bouillon/stock plus
the white parts of the green onion (reserve the rest for serving), garlic,
ginger, and optional chili. Stir-fry without oil 1 minute.
4.
Add the bok choy plus more
stock. Stir-fry 2 minutes, or until bok choy is bright green and slightly
softened.
5.
Put ingredients aside
and add 1/2 Tbsp. more water or stock/bouillon to the center of the wok/pan.
Add the tofu and “stir-fry/steam” briefly to scramble.
6.
If pan is dry, push
ingredients aside and add a little more stock, water or bouillon with water to
the middle. Add the drained noodles and 1/3 of the sauce. Stir/steam-fry
everything together 1-2 minutes using 2 utensils and a gently tossing motion
(like tossing a salad). Keep heat between medium-high and high, reducing if
noodles begin to stick or burn. Keep adding sauce and continue stir-frying in
this way 3-6 more minutes, or until sauce is gone and noodles are soft but
still chewy ('al dente') and a little sticky.
7.
Switch off heat and
add the bean sprouts, folding them into the hot noodles. Taste-test, adding
more soy sauce for more salt/flavor. If too salty or sweet, add a squeeze of
lime juice. If too sour, sprinkle over a little more sweetener.
8.
Put noodles onto a large
dish. Sprinkle with sliced green onion, coriander, and ground nuts. Serve.
Stay tuned for more ideas, recipes, education,…. If have any questions, feel free to contact
Dr. Stephen B. Asquith of Chiropractic Works Fort Collins at 1-970-229-9993.
