Chinese Meatball Soup

I love Chinese food. But so much of it is full of fat and sodium. Last week I tried a Chinese meatball noodle soup where I work. Needless to say it needed alot of help and it got my mind to working on making it better.

Chinese Meatball Soup

1 lb. ground turkey (I use http://www.jennieo.com/products/4-Lean-Ground-Turkey )
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 egg serving of egg beaters
1 T. low sodium soy sauce
1 T. grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove crushed
1 t. red pepper flakes
2 green onions chopped
Combine all ingredients together form into 25 small balls. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375 for 40 min. till just browned.

For the soup.
1  14.5 oz. carton of low sodium chicken broth. I use http://www.swansonbroth.com/productpopup.aspx?product=nutrition_natchickbroth&prd_product_id=2448
6 cups Nappa cabbage chopped
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. grated ginger
2 green onions chopped and added as garnish 
Combine all ingredients in a medium stock pot.. Bring to a boil then turn down. Add meatballs and simmer for about 15 min. Enjoy!

Nutrition info: Makes 5 servings. 225 Cal., 8.9 g. fat, 60 mg chol., less than a gram of fiber.

Baked Panko Onion Rings

I love onions. Raw or cooked I can eat them anyway they can be fixed. My all time favorite way is onion rings. I have always had a love affair with fried foods. Since my change in eating habits that is a big no no. So while on the way home from work today I passed a White Castle. The smell of burgers and onions cooking was so intense. It  put my mind to working on what I could make tonight tonight that would satisfy my craving for those greasy steamed wonders. So I made a turkey burger, but my best idea was the onion rings that I came up with. Here is the recipe.

Baked Panko Onion Rings

1 Large Sweet Onion cut in  1/4 inch slices and broken apart to make rings.
1/4 cup plain flour
Two servings of egg beaters with 3 Tablespoons of skim milk wisk together.
1/2 cup Panko add 1 Tablespoon of Paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

Place onion rings in container dust with flour, shake excess.
Individually place onions in egg mixture then coat with Panko mixture.
Place onions on baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Making sure that they are in a single layer. Bake on 350 for 20-30 minutes till brown. Makes two servings at 165 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. 


Enjoy and let me know how you like them!

Biggest Loser "Broke Bean Stew"...thanks Val and Victoria!

Val, a friend of mine from a weight loss group that I belong to on Facebook, posted about this recipe from "The Biggest Loser" cookbook. I love soups and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it. Instead of the spinach that is in the recipe I used kale and red chard. Both are full of nutrients, you can read about kale here: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-kale and about red chard here:http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/swiss-chard-9-healthy-facts. I used about 6 cups of each and put it in at the end and let it cook about a hour more. Also the recipe called for two cans of fire roasted tomatoes. I used one can of those and a can of Rotel Mexican Tomatoes & Green Chilies. The beans I used were a can of black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans and a can of lima beans that I added at the end. I tried to use low sodium on as much as I could find. Here is a link to the original recipe.http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/exclusives/nutrition/healthy-eating/

 Well as every good southerner knows, you have to have cornbread with a meal like this. I have tried different recipes, but this is what I have come up with to make a good lower calorie and lower fat pone of cornbread. I am not of the sweet cornbread persuasion, so you will not find in sugar in this one. You will only find that in the Ice Tea, and then its Splenda or Sweet N Low for me!

Here's the recipe for the cornbread.                       

2 cups cornmeal
3/4 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp veg oil
1/4 cup egg beater 
Add water as needed to thin batter. Preheat oven to 375. Add oil to a 9x9 baking pan. Place on oven till it just sizzles. Mix dry ingredients. Add egg beater and milk. Mix. Add about 3/4 of hot oil to batter and mix. Add just enough water if needed to thin batter. Pour in pan place in oven for about 20-25 min. Until brown on top. Makes 12 servings. 121 calories 3.5 grams fat fiber is roughly 1.5 grams.


Another friend from the group, Victoria  gave the recipe its name "Ashley's Kentucky Cornbread".She even put it on her blog as well.http://eat2.blog.com/ Thanks Victoria!

This is my first attempt at blogging.

Over the past two years I have lost 161 pounds. In January of 2010 I started out at 421, as of today I am down to 260. When people ask me how I did it I tell them I started out with making small changes in how I eat. I then added more physical activity as the weight came off. First I cut out fried food and late night snacking .I always try to make 6pm my cut off from my eating. Sometimes though I would have a small snack but would limit it to around 100 calories. The biggest gains I made in my weight loss was over last Summer. I went veggie crazy. Grilled veggies, baked veggies and steamed veggies.As you can see by the picture below this is what I try to make my meals around. To get my protein I use turkey, chicken, fish as my main sources. I will try to get new recipes on here at least weekly as I try new things.Also I would like to thank three people who encouraged me to try my hand at blogging. Brian, Victoria and Sissy.  Lastly I would like to thank my wife Angela for getting me started with my weight loss. She kept me on track when I wanted to quit. I still love food but I finally learned when to say no to it.