I think yellow rice would be as starchy as white rice, so if you want to cut back on the carbs, omit the rice, or cut back on the rice.

You could make your own salsa with tomatoes, and use the peppers in your fajitas!

I'll see if I have a couple of fave recipes that includes peppers and tomatoes...

You don't happen to have a salsa recipe do you? If not I can try to find one online.

No, I don't have one - I basically chop up tomatoes, and onions, add a little cilantro, a dash of kosher salt and call it pico de gallo

Nice, I'll have to try making some of my own since I've got tons of tomatoes and cilantro growing in the yard. I have store bought onions too.

Do you chop them by hand or use a food processor? How do you make it "saucy" like what you'd buy in prepackaged jars at the store?

I so want to try this out!

What I would do is take half of the tomatoes and use a food processor, then the other half, chop them up, so it'll be a little 'saucy' and a little chunky - I like chuncky salsa. If you want to hit it with a squeeze of fresh lime, you can...if you want to throw in a little bit of jalapeno pepper for some bite, you can...I'm a pico de gallo kind of girl, so usually use just a tad of sriracha hot sauce for just a little bit of a kick...

Maybe if I make some for he hubby it'll have some spice but for me, MILD please! I don't handle spicy well at all!

I don't handle spice very well either, but I can do just a tad bit of spice....not much.

i made what i want to call a really yummy salad for being on a diet here is what i put in it.

2 cups mixed greens
1/2 red pepper cut up
1/2 cucumber
8oz cubed tofu
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs of ACV
2 pieces of Melba toast crushed up
shake of mrs. dash Tomato Basil Garlic salt free
some feta cheese, few dried cherries and a few roasted peanuts ( i get the lettuce from costco and it comes as a kit with the cheese and cherries and nuts and i just put a few in)

i cut up the pepper and cucumber and sprinkled morton light salt on it and let it sit.
i put the drained pre cubed tofu in a hot pan i sprayed with pam and browned/heated it up to get out the rest of the water. i added the lettuce and toppings to the salad put the dressing of oil and ACV and shook it up, let the tofu cool some and put on top and shook some more. it was super tasty and im gonna make it again real soon!

you get 3 servings of veggies
1 serving of protein
1 fat serving
1 carb serving
and the little added things are more for fun and im not sure of the cal on it.... im talking like 5 pieces of the cherries and nuts.

Overnight Oatmeal

1/3 c rolled oats (I used steel cut oats)
1/3 c skim milk (or any other flavor milk such as vanilla soy, almond, etc.)
1/3 c yogurt (greek, plain, whatever flavor)

Mix and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
Next morning, top with fruit, nuts or granola and enjoy!

I used non-fat vanilla yogurt, I put dried cranberries in it to soak overnight, and I did not have to add any more sweetner.

You can microwave it for a few seconds to take the chill off if you want.

Claudia, I was once told that unless u cook the oatmeal your body can not process it and u get none of the good stuff from the oats...
Or are there oats out there that don't need to be cooked?

jbealer wrote:

Claudia, I was once told that unless u cook the oatmeal your body can not process it and u get none of the good stuff from the oats...
Or are there oats out there that don't need to be cooked?

If I have my facts correct, the cooking process basically only changes the starches in oats to sugar, so cooked oats vs. raw oats may taste sweeter, and with raw, the enzymes are kept more intact to help with digestion and nutritional assimilation. Cooked or raw oats still keep their nutritional values.

I made a zucchini boat last night needs some tweaking but i figured i would share and you can at least get an idea.


what i did.
picked large zucchini from garden split in half and hollowed out the area of seeds and sprinkled some salt on the inside. now it says to do it in the oven but its to hot so i stuck then on the top rack in the grill with the skin side to the fire till it got tender. i then flipped them over and cooked the inside and got the nice grill marks on the top.
while this was cooking out side i made the rest on the stove.
i used 1lb of ground chicken and cooked it. added some pepper, salt, onion and garlic powder.
i have this packet of sloppy joe mix from my "diet" stuff and have used it to make turkey patties before so i tried it in the cooked chicken like i was adding taco seasoning or some other mix and dumped it in with 5oz of water and mixed it up and set it on low, i then cut up 1 red pepper and 4 small tomatoes i picked from my garden and added it to the chicken mix, and let it sit on low mixing it up. when it was all done i spooned it into the cooked zucchini and topped it with feta cheese. i got 4 portions out of it by cutting the zucchini in half after the picture

it was good but i need to work on the seasoning some more.

those of you not on a diet or are better at being creative could have fun with this dish, i will be making it again for sure.

i think using a taco seasoning would be really good but i can't have that...

I seriously have been drooling over this since you posted it on FB Jenn!

Pea Soup (as requested by Melissa)

1 c frozen peas
1 1/2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 pc garlic, rough chop or 2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste (or Mrs. Dash)

Heat ingredients until simmering.
Place in blender with 2-3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese and blend. Make sure the top is vented or your blender will blow up and you'll have green soup all over. The cheese will melt in with the heat of the soup.

If you like thicker soups, add more peas and blend or thin out with more broth.

Top with bacon bits or croutons if you like.

This is a very forgiving recipe so you can add more spices for flavoring.

I noticed earlier in this thread some discussion about salsa. Here is my world famous salsa recipe, which people beg me to bring to parties and whatnot:

3 lbs roma tomatoes
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of cilantro
1-4 habaneros, with or without seeds, depending on how spicy you want it
~1 clove garlic (I just kind of eyeball it with the minced stuff)
juice from 1-2 limes
Salt to taste

Start with the habaneros in a food processor (or blender). Add the garlic, then cilantro. Blend that together, then add the onion and finally the tomato. Add the lime juice and salt to taste. I always blend everything really well before adding the next ingredient.

I've found that habaneros can be hard to find depending on where you live, and really any pepper will work just fine. I've used jalapenos and serranos as well, but habaneros are the best. Depending on my audience I usually use 2 or 3 peppers with the seeds, if I go more than that people say it's too hot. This recipe is for a party sized yield, but can be cut down if necessary. Enjoy!

Sake Steamed Sea Bass

3/4 Sake
3/4 clam juice
1 T minced peeled ginger
1 garlic cloved, smashed
4 filets of sea bass, or cod (halibut might work too) about 5 ounces each filets
2 large green onions, chopped
4 tsp low sodium soy
1 tsp sesame oil
3 T chopped cilantro
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

-combine sake, clam juice ginger and garlic in a pan large enough to hold a steamer basket; bring to boil then reduce heat
-place steamer basket in pan, and place fish in steamer; sprinkle with salt and pepper lightly
-top fish with green onions and drizzle with soy and sesame oil
-cover pan and steam for about 5 minutes until fish is opaque in the center
-remove steamer basket and mix in cilantro in steaming liquid

this is usually served with rice, but to make it low carb, serve with steam baby bok choy - place fish on top rice or bok choy and top with steaming liquid and sesame seeds

Thai Basil and Chile Chicken

If you can't find thai basil or thai chile, use regular basil and sriracha to make it as spicy or not spicy as you like.

3 T fresh lime juice
2 T soy
1 1/2 t sugar
1 tsp Asian fish sauce
olive or grapeseed oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut up into bite size pcs
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions or green onions cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 plum or roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small thai chile or sriracha to taste (or omit if you don't like any heat)
1 c coarse chopped thai basil

-combine lime juice, sugar, soy and fish sauce; set aside
-heat oil, and add chicken and garlic and stir fry; until chicken is almost cooked through; set aside
-add scallions/green onions, and stir fry for 2 minutes; add tomatoes and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes
-add chicken and chile/sriracha and the lime juice mix and stir fry for for a couple of minutes
-remove from heat and add basil; stir

usually served with rice (brown rice is a good substitute)

4 servings

each serving w/o rice:
calories - 250
protein - 25 g
carb - 8 g
total fat - 5 g

Meredith, just mail me some in a jar (your salsa). Thank you. And Claudia, I am going to come over for dinner!

I'll see about canning some the next time I do up a batch. Football season is here, so that means lots of parties and lots of salsa being made

If you actually did it, I would pretty much worship the ground you walk on..

I'll give you a shout the next time I make a batch

Sounds to spicy for me

cmanding wrote:

Pea Soup (as requested by Melissa)

1 c frozen peas
1 1/2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 pc garlic, rough chop or 2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste (or Mrs. Dash)

Heat ingredients until simmering.
Place in blender with 2-3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese and blend. Make sure the top is vented or your blender will blow up and you'll have green soup all over. The cheese will melt in with the heat of the soup.

If you like thicker soups, add more peas and blend or thin out with more broth.

Top with bacon bits or croutons if you like.

This is a very forgiving recipe so you can add more spices for flavoring.

YUMMY!!!! Thanks Claudia!!! Just might attempt this tonight. If I'm in the mood to cook that is..lol

Claudia, made your Sake Steamed Sea Bass, but with tilapia. They were out of Sea Bass at the grocery stores fish market. Girl, that was awesome!!!!!!!!!!! With some edamame and brown rice...yummm@@@

This must be the night for making Claudia's recipes! I made the Thai Basil and Chili Chicken, and it was freakin amazing. I had a friend over and she loved it as well. The big news though, Aaron liked it! Success!!

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful recipes!