Tag Archives: budget

Meatless Monday/Traditional Tuesday – Vegetarian Cee Eiw

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Happy Presidents Day Weekend and Post-Valentine’s Day!! Welcome to the second Meatless Monday post and deciding to “knock two birds with one stone”, this post will discuss a traditional Thai dish that is usually made with stir fry wide noodles with soy sauce called Pad Cee Eiw.  In the attempt to create a vegetable stir fry dish using the ingredients from the Sunday Game Plan posted on SuperBowl weekend, I decided to make it my own.  This vegetarian stir fry consists of ingredients that I grew up eating with on my Filipino and Thai dishes.

Almost all Thai menus and noodle dishes in the US have misinterpreted the title of “Pad Cee Eiw”.  Pad Cee Eiw is a Thai noodle dish of Chinese origin and are relatively recent additions to the Thai culinary universe.  The dish is often made to accommodate Chinese clients and is considered a “street food” dish.

“Pad” in Thai means “stir fry” and “cee eiw” in Thai means “soy sauce”.

This is a very quick dish, but one important thing is to make sure that the wok is very hot.  Also, this dish can be gluten free if the sauces used does not contain gluten.

No Carb Pad Cee Eiw

Number of calories provided by My Fitness Pal

1 tbsp olive oil = 120 calories

2 tbsp chopped onions = 8 calories

3 cups (48 tablespoons) kale = 68 calories

1 cup spinach = 7 calories

1 cup broccoli rabe = 9 calories

1 tbsp Healthy Boy Black Soy Sauce = 40 calories

1 tbsp Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce = 10 calories

1 tbsp Datu Puti Native Vinegar (any vinegar will work) = 0 calories

1 jumbo egg, scrambled = 90 calories

Total cost of fresh ingredients: $5 (broccoli rabe, onions, spinach and kale) and the rest was on my pantry.

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Ingredients

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Add olive oil and stir fry chopped onions. Saute chopped onions for 2 minutes.

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Add chopped kale and spinach.  Saute until vegetables are wilted about 2 minutes.

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Add broccoli rabe and stir fry for another two minutes.

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Add soy sauce, black soy sauce and vinegar.  Stir and let the mixture boil until the sauce starts to thicken.

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Push vegetable and soy sauce mixture to the side and spray empty space with cooking spray.  Add egg and stir to scramble.

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Combine eggs with the vegetables.

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Transfer to the plate and serve.

 

 

Meatless Monday – National Potato Lover’s Day

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Happy National Potato Lover’s Day! As Chinese New Year officially begins, let’s start off the year right by focusing on the goal of Tablespoons and Teaspoons!

As previously mentioned in the Sunday Game Plan and commemoration of National Potato Lover’s Day, let’s begin the first Meatless Monday post with a recipe that was made from a previous Sunday Game Plan, which has been addicting.  The awesome part of this dish is it consists of only five (5) ingredients, all of which have health benefits.  But today we will focus on Yam and its history and health benefits.

Sweet Potato is one of the oldest vegetables that originated in Central America and Peru at around 750 B.C. It became widespread when Christopher Columbus brought back the crop to Europe.  Sweet potato is sometimes referred to as yams despite their physical differences for marketing purposes by Louisiana farmers.

In addition, coincidentally it’s African American History Month, George Washington Carver demonstrated how the sweet potato is useful economically and nutritionally.

Health Benefits of Sweet Potato Consumption

  • High source of Vitamin A – helps with fertility, lactation, vision, slows age related degeneration
  • Beta-carotine – may help reduce prostate and colon cancer, maintain healthy immune system
  • Contains antioxidants, which can have an anti-inflammatory effect
  • Regulates blood sugar
  • Contains batatins and batatosides, which are anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties
  • Contains vitamin B5, B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and, due to their orange color, are high in carotenoids
  • High fiber – prevent constipation & help with the digestive tract
  • Low glycemic index

Here’s the first Meatless Monday Recipe – Total Cost: Less than $10, 4/5 items can be part of the pantry and used for other recipes:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Cinnamon (adapted from Tyler Florence’s recipe)

1 sweet potato = 103 calories

1 tablespoon olive oil = 120 calories

2 teaspoons cinnamon = 12 calories

2 tablespoons honey = 129 calories

Black pepper

 

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Peel and slice sweet potato.  

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Preheat oven at 375 degrees.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.  In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until seasoned.  Lay seasoned sweet potato slices in a single layer on the foiled baking sheet. 

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Roast potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes and remove potatoes from the oven.  Serve.

 

 

Sunday Game Plan – Snow Aftermath

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Happy Snow Weekend! It’s been a rough couple of days as I am recovering from a very bad cold thanks to the change of weather resulting in a lost sense of smell and taste.  Over the last week, just been stocking up on fish such as tuna steak and wild salmon.  What was purchased and stored from the last two weekends is coming into use especially being snowed in for the weekend.  I am carrying over some recipes from the previous Sunday Game Plan, which I did not have the opportunity to make last two weeks.  20160124_110647

Traditional Tuesday – Chicken Thighs Adobo

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I know it’s officially no longer Tuesday, but I want to keep my word on posting a dish involving ingredients from the Sunday Game Plan.  One of the dishes from the Sunday Game Plan is Chicken Thigh Adobo.

Adobo is a popular dish in the Philippines.  Adobo in English means “vinegar braised”.   The main marinade of the traditional Filipino adobo dish is soy sauce and vinegar.  This dish can be made using any type of meat or even vegetables.  Personally the best adobo dish to make is pork belly, but for now, we will use chicken thighs.  Chicken thighs is a great piece of meat to cook with because it has all the flavors and juices in it.  Plus, it’s definitely healthier than pork belly.

Making this dish brings memories from my grandmother and mother who tried to pass on this family recipe.

Chicken Thighs Adobo – Serves 5

5 pieces of chicken thighs = 239 calories/piece of chicken thigh

5 tablespoons of Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce = 10 calories/tbsp.

5 tablespoons of Datu Puti Native Vinegar (any vinegar will work) = 0 calories

3 garlic cloves, sliced = 13 calories

3 bay leaves = 6 calories

1 teaspoon of ground black pepper = 4 calories

1 teaspoon of brown sugar = 17 calories

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Ingredients for marinade

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Chicken Thighs

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Combine all marinade ingredients

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Pour marinade on the chicken thighs and let it sit on room temperature for approximately 90 minutes.

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Turn the chicken thighs over and let it sit for another 90 minutes.

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After 90 minutes, turn on the heat on medium/high and let the mixture boil.  After boiling, add as much water to your preference (personally I love the marinade so I add approximately 4-6 cups of water so the mixture won’t be too concentrated).  Turn the heat on low, cover the pan and let it simmer for 30 minutes, turning once halfway.  After 30 minutes, open the pan and let it cook for another 20 minutes on low heat until the liquid is reduced.

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Transfer the chicken thighs on a plate.

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Pour the marinade over it.  This appears really greasy, but it’s the chicken fat with the marinade ingredients.  No oil was added during the entire recipe.  Serve with rice.

Current pantry: Soy sauce, native vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, ground black pepper and brown sugar.

Chicken Thighs: On sale at Stop & Shop for $0.88/lb. but it comes in 4-5 lb. packages.

Calories/serving: 289 calories. 

 

 

 

 

First Sunday Game Plan

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It’s been a long weekend but very excited to post Tablespoons and Teaspoons’ first Sunday Game Plan for the week.   After reviewing various circulars, a budget of $30 was set aside to do some grocery shopping for this week’s meal plan.  This meal plan works well with anyone who wants to lose weight and take up “clean” eating.  Below is the handwritten version of the game plan which lists recipes that will be prepared and made.20160110_231941-1

Utilizing the ingredients purchased on a $30 budget, at least 12 healthy cost effective recipes can be created for the week with the high probability of leftovers.  In terms of current pantry items the biggest investments were the olive oil, rice, cooking spray and soy sauce, everything else in the pantry was purchased under $3 per item.  Current pantry items are separate from the $30 budget grocery shopping.

Can’t wait to put these ingredients into great use and make quick, budget friendly and healthy dishes.  Stay tuned!!

Beginnings

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Happy 2016!!

Welcome to Tablespoons and Teaspoons first blog!

The popular New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight or eat healthy.

This blog will display a week’s worth of posts consisting of a game plan listing items that are on sale.  There will be vegetarian, traditional and healthy recipes.  In addition, there will be throwback photos of restaurants and happy hour deals that are worthwhile.  But more importantly key food ingredients will be dissected to discuss its benefits to alleviating disease symptoms and improving health.

This is going to be an exciting year so sit back and enjoy!