Changing up lunch with a cold noodle salad

Lunch doesn't always have to be sandwiches, as there are an abundance of alternatives that are easy as well as portable for packed lunches.  Some favorites in my house are cold noodle salads or couscous salads, which are an incredibly easy and filling solution while still being light.  For this particular dish I used Cantonese Style noodles that I bought from a Chinese Supermarket.  I have talked about this a few times and I just wanted to mention it again, finding a Ethnic Supermarket can be an wonderful way to get a great bargain.  I am able to buy things like oil, soy sauce, noodles and tofu and much cheaper prices then I would find in the regular supermarket.  Do a little research in your town, it may surprise you to find that there are one or two small ethnic grocery stores in your area that you didn't even know about.  Their appearance on the outside might intimidate you if you have never been to something like that before but give it a try. They are often small, family run operations that need the community's support to survive and as I mentioned it will give you access to ingredients that are either hard to find in the regular supermarket or at least cheaper.  I have so much fun stocking myself up with noodles so that I always have something unique within reach for a quick meal.

Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

Don't ever tell yourself that making delicious homemade Chinese dishes at home is too hard.  If you give it a try you just might surprise yourself at what you can do.  So put away those frozen stir-fry bags or those expensive takeaways and give this a try.

Celebrating Chinese New Year with Cantonese Style Chow Mein

Even though Chinese New Year has already come and gone it is never too late to celebrate with a good Chinese meal.  Growing up in Hong Kong I enjoyed a lot of authentic Chinese dishes so I am always looking for new recipes to add to my repertoire so that I can enjoy that same taste at home.  One of the things that I love about cooking Chinese food is that with a little practice you will find it really isn't all that hard to do on your own.  I cook a Chinese dish at least once a week, and it is a lot cheaper to do at home then to go out. 

Honey Sesame Tofu

If you have been following this blog for a while you might be asking yourself, "What is with all of the tofu?"  No I am not a vegetarian as many of the meat articles I write will show.  You see tofu has gotten a bad image among most meat eaters, myself included until a few years ago.  I remember as a child, walking through the markets in China smelling the stench of the fresh tofu being sold.  The smell of it, the texture, nothing about it screamed it should be eaten by me.  But a few years ago when we first discussed getting healthier, as well as trying to cut down our food budget, my husband encouraged me to give tofu a chance.  My husband is one of those people that will always try something at least once, he is by far a much braver foodie that I am and I am grateful for that because he pushes me to experiment.  Not only was tofu a healthy, low fat form of protein but seeing as how we live near several Asian grocery stores it was also incredibly cheap.

Now I could never completely give up my love for meat but I knew that if I limited my intake, especially of red meat, and increased my protein from things like beans and tofu that I would start to see a change in my health, and boy did I ever.  The great thing is that over time our choices turned into habits we don't even really think about eating healthier any more, we just do. And these good habits I might add have come in handy for me now that I am 18 weeks pregnant.  My doctor has been amazed at how healthy my pregnancy has been, and with me only gaining 2 pounds so far she has predicted that if I continue this path during my pregnancy that I will lose all of the baby fat very soon after I give birth.  For me, someone who has always struggled in my adult years to get my weight under control, this has been such wonderful news.  Not only am I healthier but so is my baby.

I share this because I believe that if you can make a few small changes to your diet, that over time you would see life changing results that are permanent.  Because it isn't about going on a diet and depriving yourself all at one of your favorite things.  It is about the small changes that you make over time to develop healthy habits that you will carry with you throughout your life.  We allow ourselves to have a nice steak every once in a while and definitely give ourselves treats.  But what we have learned is how to eat healthier on a daily basis, it is so routine that we don't even thing about it any more. 

Chinese Brown Sauce- Homemade Chinese food that will make your family ask to stay in

Of course we all know that it is both healthier and cheaper to eat at home then eat out but when you are in the mood for certain foods it can be a bit temptation to go out.  A nice lasagna just doesn't taste right when what you were in the mood for was a nice Chinese meal.  But the thing is when you are busy it isn't always convenient to look up recipes and try to make an exotic meal for the first time.  So I wanted to share a little trick with you.  The key is learning at least one sauce recipe by heart and then when it comes to mastering a Chinese meal you will impress even the pickiest of eaters.  This sauce that I am going to share with you is a typical Chinese Brown sauce.  It is easy to make and can be used in hundreds of ways. 

Portion control: Good for the waist and the wallet

When it comes to helping your budget I can't help but mention helping your waist line. You see that is what started most of this journey for me. My husband and I started gaining weight and we decided that enough was enough we had to change our lifestyle. It was also around the same time that things went, well not so well with me with work. So budgeting was first most in my mind. So I started first looking at what we were consuming and what we were throwing away and there is something that I have noticed that has changed the way I cook. You see there is a time and a place for leftovers and what I have discovered is that it is not in every meal. Yeah when you make that soup or chili it is hard if not impossible to make enough to span several meals and that is okay. You see a dish like that is meant to be enjoyed over time. You are more likely to eat leftover soup then you are to eat the leftover casserole. You might love it the first time around but there are very few dishes that are that good the second time around.