The Hungry Man

Last night was my favorite meal of the year...

...no not my birthday dinner... fine my second favorite of the year...

...no not Thanksgiving... okay, you get the point!!!

Yesterday was one of my favorite meals of the year…

BREAKFAST FOR DINNER :)

This might sound childish, but if I could eat breakfast for dinner every night, I would and here are my reasons why:

A.) It is delicious

B.) It is easy, easy, easy

and

C.) It can be VERY healthy, if you do it right!

When I came home from a long day of work yesterday, I quickly realized my pantry and freezer were barren... no leftovers, no chicken to throw in the oven, no veggies to stir-fry. CRAP!

Now I have to go back out to the store to fight the 6pm grocery rush and yell at the lady whose kids are running into my cart... or do I?  Let's just wait one second here... do I have eggs? yes! potatoes? yes!! turkey bacon? yes!!!

"Jon... we're having breakfast for dinner... again!"

You see, I love to cook... but when I can cook an easy meal on a night that I'd rather order in... it's a win-win.  I'm saving money AND the torture of looking in the mirror after eating an entire pizza, thinking, "I can already see it in my hips."

And so, I give you "The Hungry Man"

My breakfast for dinner may scare you at first with its size, but fear not-- this plate was made for two (we just ran out of dishes and had to share one).

How to make The Hungry Man:

For this dinner, you'll start with a large pan on high heat.  Let the pan heat up for 2 minutes and then spray it with PAM.  When the pan begins to sizzle, throw in a bag of the shredded potatoes (70 cal. per 1/2 cup).  Add some garlic salt and pepper and spray with 10 sprays of 'I can't believe it's not butter.'  Leave the potatoes for 3 minutes and then give them a quick stir and repeat the seasoning.  Since I don't use oil, I leave the potatoes on high heat to get them crispy.  Just make sure to move them around every few minutes, so they don't burn.                 

                                                      

Next, I heat up another pan (medium high), spray PAM, and pour one cup of egg whites in (30 cal. in 1/4 cup).  While the egg is still in liquid form, I stir in some salt and pepper and a few drops of Frank's Red Hot ("I put that sh*t on everything"... or Jon does). Once the eggs begin to look firm, I flip them over and immediately throw two slices of Kraft fat free cheese (25 cal. a piece) on top to melt.  I fold the eggs over and voila! My omelette is perfection.

The butterball turkey bacon is the lowest in calories I have seen (30 cal. a slice), yet the most delicious! Throw a few slices on a flat pan at medium-high heat and let sit for 3-4 minutes on each side.  The bacon should be brown and crispy in no time!

                                                  

 If you eat 2 slices of the turkey bacon, 1/2 cup of potatoes and 1/2 of the ENORMOUS omelette... you're right around 200 calories!  

The only problem with breakfast for dinner is figuring out what to eat for breakfast the next day... do I start my day off with dessert? It just feels wrong... but fine, I'll do it... just this once.

Julie, Julie and Julia

(My very first fondant cake--for my Mom's 50th birthday!)

About a year ago, I was sitting with my fiancé watching TV and the preview for the movie Julie and Julia came on.  I turned to my fiancé with an incredulous look on my face and saw him looking back at me with the same expression as he joked, "I didn't know they made a movie about you!"

Turns out the movie wasn't exactly about me... but pretty close.  My passion in life is cooking, yet I've never taken a cooking class and conveniently enough, my name is also Julie.

However, when I saw the movie I quickly realized I am the anti-Julie Powell when I heard the line, "Is there anything better than butter? Think it over, any time you taste something that's delicious beyond imagining and you say 'what's in this?' the answer is always going to be butter. The day there is a meteorite rushing toward Earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here is my final word on the subject, you can never have too much butter."

WRONG! You can definitely have too much butter, something can be delicious beyond imagining without butter, and there are much better things in the world than butter.  And on this note, I explain my reason for blogging.

As I said earlier, I love to cook.  But, I try to cook everything in a lighter, healthier fashion... butter is not my friend.  And hopefully by reading my blog you will agree and find alternatives that you love!  I will share my latest recipes and low cal/low carb food finds (I am ALWAYS on the lookout).

But, before I begin... here's a little bit about me:

After college, I wanted to attend culinary school... but having absolutely no money to my name, I had to ask my dad to pay for yet another year of school.  The funny thing about parents is if you need money to do something, they always ask for details.  Well, when I explained that cooking was my dream and that I wanted to do it for a living he told me he didn't want me having the life of a chef (late hours, small paychecks, high stress).  So, he told me to go to law school first and then we'd talk.  I obliged and went to law school... for a week.  After 5 days of hell, I asked myself what the life of a lawyer would be (late hours... check!, high stress... check!, small paychecks-- no, but I don't think a big paycheck trumps happiness in a career).

So, back to my dad I went.  "Dad, I tried law school and hated it, I know I will love culinary school... please can you help me out?"

"Blah, blah, blah... life of a chef..late hours, small paychecks, high stress... go get a Masters degree first, something you can fall back on and then we’ll talk."

Two years and a Masters in teaching later, I thought to myself, “what will the life of a teacher be?” (small paychecks... check!, high stress... check!, late hours... grading papers, lesson planning... check!)

Now I'm 25, with a bachelors in criminal justice, a bachelors in psychology, and a masters in teaching... none of which are being used.  But, I learned one important lesson-- stop asking my Dad about culinary school unless I want to be forced into Med. school ;)

So, I figured out a way to make it happen on my own... in due time.  I am currently working in marketing... still cooking and creating new recipes.  Eventually, when I have the money to send myself to culinary school, I will… but in the meantime I will share my culinary stories and recipes with you!

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Last night I made made Mahi and shrimp miso stirfry.  I cooked for my fiancé, Jon, my friend Ashley, and myself… and there was plenty left for lunch today!

Ingredients:

Fresh or frozen stirfry Chinese veggies

(snow peas, carrots, broccoli, water chestnuts) – 1 bag

2 medium mahi filets

15 peeled shrimp

Garlic salt

Lemon juice

2 tbsp. Galeos Miso sesame marinade/dressing

(a MUST-try… only 22 calories per tbsp.)

http://www.galeoscafe.com/

(also try the Miso Caesar… only 14 DELICIOUS calories per tbsp.)

2 Dry Miso soup packets (I use the Trader Joe’s brand)

Salt and pepper to taster

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut Mahi filets into 2” x 2”cubes

Lay out on baking sheet coated with PAM nonstick spray 

Cook for 12 minutes

Make soup as directed on box (the Trader Joes packet instructs you

to mix one packet into two cups of boiling water.

Cook the shrimp on medium-high heat until orangish-pink and then add the cubed mahi

to the pan and turn to low heat.  Pour 2 tbsp. of miso marinade over top and stir lightly.

Cook the veggies on medium high heat until tender,

pour the soup over the veggies and let simmer on low heat

Mix seafood and veggie mixtures together and serve (top with extra broth!)

Yields 4 servings... 180-200 calories per serving

I ate mine plain, but served Jon’s over whole grain pasta… it’s also great over brown rice.

Bon Appetit!