Breaking the Food Chain: seasonings

Monday, June 20, 2011

New Apartment and Low-Cal Meal

Hey there!
Well, just got back from a week in NYC that I spent finding an apartment for when I move up for law school. It's a really cute little studio right in the heart of Chelsea. I'm really excited, but now I have until the end of July to get my shit together and pack up. I'm going to have to get rid of SO MANY CLOTHES!!! The closet in the new place is ridiculously small compared to the one I have now, I'm going to have to buy a stand alone wardrobe just to keep HALF my things. Major closet purge to come. Hey, at least it's one kind of purge that won't make me feel like shit, lol.
Here's the new place:

It's pretty small, but it's just for me, and I can't wait to be there! Open to any decorating tips for space-efficiency!

Anyway, I wanted to share one of my fav low-cal, high protein meals. It's so easy it's stupid and requires like zero preparation, which is a bonus when you're in a rush and don't want to cook-cook. I take a Morningstar Spicy Black Bean Burger (120cal) and microwave it for 1 minute. While that Microwaving, I throw a piece of Nature's Own low-cal wheat bread in the toaster (35-40cal). When the toast pops up, I throw on a slice of Kraft Singles 2% Light Cheddar (60cal), then put the bean patty on top so it gets nice and melty. Then I top the patty with a teaspoon of Pace Salsa Verde (less than 10cal) to make sure it's not too dry, and then I throw a little Tabasco Green Chili Hot Sauce on top for an extra kick. The whole thing is 230 calories, high in protein, has close to zero fat, and is very filling.

Obviously, any of these can be substituted for comparable products, and for even less cals you don't have to use the cheese. I just find that the 60 cals are worth it to me for the added taste and protein, especially since I tend not to go over 500-600 cals in a day anyway. When I'm working out every day I let myself have a little more, but since my torn rotator cuff it's been hard, all I can really do is run at the gym right now. Hope someone likes the idea! It's muy delicioso!

LM

Monday, March 29, 2010

Add some spice to your life!

   I realized that I left out some important ingredients in my last post, and they are SEASONINGS! After the dissertation I wrote yesterday, though, I'm going to try and make this a relatively short post. I know that spices, seasonings, marinades, sauces, etc can be a bit of a touchy subject for the ED community. On one end of the spectrum, there are those who absolutely refuse to put any kind of flavoring into anything they prepare; and on the other side, there are some who "sabotage" their food, so to speak, and over-season/over-flavor it in order to render it unenjoyable or inedible.
   I'm not going to go into a discussion about either of those extremes right now-maybe in a later post. All I'm going to say is that, for me, bland food is just about the worst thing in the world. I kind of have this attitude of...I don't really want to eat in the first place-so if I'm going to ingest food and calories, it better damn well taste good and be worth my while! Obviously, if it is a binge and I know I'm going to purge right afterwards, it's a little different. But, I digress. Here is a list of spices, seasonings, marinades and sauces that I use that have very little to no calories in them, but make a huge difference in helping my food taste better.
   Wherever possible, the links bring you to the product and nutrition information. If there was not a page for the nutrition info, then the link will bring to to the manufacturer/company's product page. If there was no official product page, then the link brings you to a retailer that sells it. Everything on here I buy in Publix. =)

*Newman's Own Pineapple Salsa--15 cal/2 tbsp