Stir-fry Beef and Green Beans

We had bags and bags of beans out of my mother's garden this summer. We ate several popped in the pressure cooker for 4 minutes with some Mrs. Dash and Canadian bacon, but I still had to find other creative ways to cook some up so I tossed together a stir-fry that tuned out to be a nice way to eat up the beans without adding a ton of calories.

1 pounds sirloin stake, cut into this strips against the grain of the meat.

2 pounds green beans topped and tailed (I am not very adamant with the top and tailing)

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 cloves minced garlic

1 inch nob minced ginger (I grate it on my box grater with the fine shred side)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup beef broth

1 bunch green onions, sliced into oblong rounds whites and a little of the green. Roots removed

2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil

add the beef, soy sauce, corn starch, 1/2 garlic, 1/2 ginger, brown sugar and corn starch in a bowl and let set for 30 minutes.

Heat your wok to very hot add 1 tablespoon oil and the beef and cook until just browned on both sides and remove onto a dish and reserve. do not worry about cooking it through because you will add it again later and be sure to keep the sauce in the bowl that the meat was in.

add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan then add the beans and the other half or the garlic and ginger. toss a little and then add the beef stock and cover wok with a lid to let the bean steam up for about 2 to 4 minutes.

once beans are crisp tender add in the green onion sauce that was left over from meat and the meat. stir for a few seconds until all is saucy and a little thick.

server with a cup of Brown rice

the whole dish is 1600 calories 119 carb, 65g fat, and 163g protein. I say this dish served 5 and is worth 7 zucchini points and 1 cup of brown rice is 4 so total meal is 11 zucchinis

Orange Marmalade Pork

I think at one time I saw a recipe with orange marmalade on pork and it stuck in my head. The other day I had some pork loin roast that I cut into 3 to 4 ounce chops. As I looked at them the orange marmalade idea popped into my head again so I got to looking in the cupboards and sure enough there was a jar of orange marmalade so I went to work on a marmalade.

8 3 to 4 ounce pork loin chops, trimmed of fat
8 oz orange marmalade
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flacks
1 tablespoon salt
pepper to taste

put all ingredients in a Ziploc back and marinade over night or for about 8 hours

Heat the grill. pull the pork out of the marinade and put marinade in a pan and reduce. cook pork on the grill basting with the reduced marinade until done (mine took about 4 minutes a side)

I also steamed some broccoli and cut a pineapple into rounds and grilled those also.

If you are watching your weight or food intake the pork was about 2 tablespoons of marinade as 5 zucchinis

Sundried Tomato and Basil Chicken Roll

I just went through a group of pictures I took and noticed that I have not been taking very pretty pictures of my food lately and I will have to start focusing on that here now that I am adjusted to being back home. Until the new photographer is discovered in myself I will have to post some beauties like the one above.

I am sure you can tell by the photo on this meal I got distracted and over steamed the broccoli which is why it has this olive green color and not the bright spring green color of perfect tender crisp broccoli, but that is how life is now isn't it.

This is one of the meals I had the first week on my weight watching diet. it is sun dried basil stuffed chicken breast with half a baked potato and broccoli. I will have to go back and look at how many zucchinis this added up to but it was not too many and it was a filling meal.

thin chicken breast at about 4 oz piece per person.
1 to 2 sun dried tomatoes per person, chopped
3 or 4 large basil leaves per person, cut into ribbons
a little cheese, about an ounce per person
salt and pepper

roll all inside the chicken sear all sides in hot pan and roast in 400F oven for 15 minutes or until done.

meal is 7 points with the overcooked broccoil

Veggie Burgers with Tiziki - worth 5

I have tried Boca burgers in the past and did not care for them. When I saw veggie burgers at Costco I was hesitant to buy them thinking that they would be like the boca burgers. These veggie burgers are not exactly like the Boca but you have to be very careful when cooking them or they just turn out to be a mushy grainy "patty". While Baking them did turn out nice I found that dry pan frying them over low heat works great, the low heat slowly warms the patty but more importantly it drys the patty out a little then crisps the outside for a really nice textured patty and the flavor of these veggie patties is very nice.

Photoed above was the veggie patty dressed up like a hamburger on a thin bun but I found that a tiziki sauce on the patty with a toasted thin bun and some onion and lettuce is the best.

low fat tiziki

1/4 cut grated cucumber that has been salted and squeezed of excess juice

2 tablespoons fat free plain yogurt (the zippy'er the better)

2 tablespoons fat free sour cream

1 to 2 cloves minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

mix all together in a bowl and top your veggie burger that was slowly pan fried without oil

thin bun, toasted, thin slice of onion and a leaf of nice crisp romain lettuce.

while the individual ingredients in the tiziki would not add up to any points I still count the tiziki as one point

total for a veggie burger with tiziki and bun is 5

served with a watermelon wedge and 1/2 cup tabbouleh (2 points) and cucumbers

Returning to Michigan

We have lived in Mexico City for more than a year now and it is time to go home. We will be returning to Michigan in just a few short weeks and once I do that I have to lose some of this weight I put on while in Mexico. The plan is to join Weight Watchers when I get back and to start blogging again on a regular basis but blogging weight watcher friendly food. At least for the first 3 to 4 months of being back.