Newsletter #1

Think Outside the Takeout Box

Thought you had to give up your favorite Chinese and Japanese foods? No! You just have to think outside the takeout box! You can recreate diet-friendly versions of your favorite recipes by using the flavors but not the high calorie, high fat ingredients. A good example of this is the egg roll! I love the shredded innards of an egg roll and the hot mustard sauce to dip it in so I created my own version that uses an egg omelette for the wrapper, cabbage sauted in soy sauce for the filling, and hot mustard sauce made from ground mustard powder and water. Delish!

Miss Orange Chicken? Try the Diet Orange Soda Chicken recipe.
Miss Sushi? Try the Tamago (egg sushi) recipe.
Miss Schezwan Chicken? Try stirfrying chicken and veggies with some crushed red pepper and soy sauce.
Miss fortune cookies? Try my protein powder fortune cookie recipe!

All my recipes are now at http://www.eatinglow.com/recipes.htm

Tamago (Egg Sushi) Recipe

In case you missed it, here it is again!

1/2 c eggbeaters (equivalent to 2 eggs)
1 1/2 splenda packets
Soy sauce for dipping

Mix egg and splenda in a bowl. Spray pan with PAM and pour egg into pan. Cook and then flip. Cook other side. Put omelette on a plate and roll up omelette until it makes a long roll. Slice into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces. Dip into soy sauce. You can also add fillings like cucumber (or avocado if you're in maintenance) before rolling it up.

Celebrate Asian Cuisine

Throw an asian cuisine themed party and you'll be eating low in style! Here's a sample menu:

Egg Drop Soup
Hot and Sour Soup
Egg Rolls with Hot Mustard
Egg Sushi
Diet Orange Soda Chicken
Evil Fortune(less) Cookie

Stores like World Market, Ikea, or Pier One have all the accessories you'll need to decorate for your party. Hang some paper lanterns and stock up on chopsticks and some funky sushi plates and dipping bowls.

Two Chinese Soups

Egg Drop Soup

8 oz canned fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 beaten egg
Splash of lite soy sauce
Salt, pepper, other spices (optional)

Heat chicken broth, soy sauce, and spices in a pot until boiling. Slowly pour egg over the back of a spoon, drizzling it into the soup. It will form threads. You can also try adding the egg while stirring slowly in one direction. This does take some practice to get right, but it still really tasty!

Hot and Sour Soup

The egg drop soup can easily be modified to make hot and sour soup by adding a splash of rice wine vinegar (or other vinegar or dry sherry or dry white wine if you can't find rice wine vinegar) and some white pepper to the soup. If you like it REALLY hot, try a dash of Chinese Hot Oil but that will add fat and calories so go easy!

Watch the Soy Sauce

Soy sauce (even the low sodium kind) can be super salty so if you notice you stall after eating soy sauce, either cut down or skip it altogether. The good news is that it's probably just water retention from all that salt, but no one wants to be bloated!