HEALTHY CHICKEN CHOW MEIN RECIPE
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on my favvveeee noodles ever. Miracle Noodles! I was inspired to make some healthy Chinese food for lunch today, so this recipe is fresh & piping hot from my wok. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS (for 1 heaping serving):
- 1 pack of Fettucine or Angel Hair Zero Calorie Miracle Noodles
- 1 egg or 3 egg whites – I use liquid egg whites, so stop getting on me for wasting yolk!! :P
- About 7-8 baby carrots, sliced longways
- A small handful of green beans
- 1 chicken breast, boiled, then chopped
- 1 TBS oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of soy sauce
- pinch of salt & pinch of pepper
- little bit of sesame oil or olive oil to stir-fry
Make sure to rinse your noodles thoroughly. Then pat them dry between 2 paper towels.
You can get Oyster Sauce at your local Asian food mart. But I know they sell it in the international section of Wal-Mart and major grocery stores now! It’s about $2-$3.
Make sure your pan is hot with the thin coating of oil before you toss the goodies in! This way you’ll hear the simmering sounds. My fave. And you get some nice color to the chicken. I add in my sauce after I throw everything in. (Oh yeah, but make your eggs separately first.) You can add salt and pepper til you get the desired taste. But that’s it!
And yes, the noodles are really calorie free. They taste kind of chewy and take on the flavor of whatever you throw on them. So my noodles embraced the oyster and soy sauces. It was so good. Enjoy and yes there is such a thing as healthy Chinese food! I’ll probably be doing more Asian inspired dishes with Lunar New Year coming up around the corner!
I just got an email saying that if you use code “2012″ you’ll get 12% off your order. Umm, buy now!!?? Go here. Expires Sunday Jan 8th.
NUTRITION FACTS (with egg whites):
Over 60g of protein! And under 350 cals! NICE!!!!!
In addition to my Pilates routines, I also love (well love and hate) HIIT or high intensity interval training workouts. These HIIT workouts burn fat fast and you could do more for your body in less time, meaning you’ll get cut quick! Before we get started, for those of you who don’t know, a HIIT workout consists of cardio bursts followed by short periods of recovery in between.
Today my sister mentioned to me a podcast she heard from Get-Fit Guy talking about why HIIT routines are so effective in fat burning. She asked me if I knew why. I said well obviously it’s because you have to go all out, then stop, then go all out, then stop over and over again which in turn makes your body work harder. The stop and go of that momentum makes you burn more calories. Kind of like how if you kept turning your car on and off at every stop light you’d end up wasting more gas.
She agreed, but told me that Get-Fit Guy, or Ben Greenfield of Quick and Dirty Tips (yes the same network as Nutrition Diva) had an additional explanation. He talks about oxygen debt:
“When you exercise, your body uses oxygen to create energy. But when you reach a high intensity during exercise, your body’s demand for oxygen exceeds your ability to breathe in that much oxygen and deliver it to the muscles. When this happens, your body goes into an “oxygen debt.” Once you go into oxygen debt, not only do your muscles begin to burn and you begin to breathe hard, but you also put your body into a state where it needs to “repay” that oxygen debt after exercise….when you breathe more and breathe deeper, your body burns more calories. Depending on how hard you’ve worked, this oxygen repaying can help you burn anywhere from a few dozen to over a hundred extra calories each hour after you exercise, for up to 24 hours after you’ve finished!”
I was fascinated to hear this! Up to 100 calories per hour for 24 hours? Well then for sure I’ll be going crazy in the gym for a hard hour to reap the benefits of oxygen debt! No wonder when I workout, sometimes I yawn. It’s not because I’m bored, but it’s because my body needs more oxygen. Breathe Cassey, breathe.
Here is a sample HIIT workout routine for you! Do each move for 1 min and rest for 30 sec in between. Repeat this set 4X total for an awesome 1 hour full body, fat blasting workout!!!
1. Star Squat
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2. Split jumps
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3. Knee Up Lunge, 30 sec each side
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4. Single Arm Dumbbell Swing, 30 sec each arm – use at least an 5 lb weight, but you can go as heavy as 25 lbs or more!
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5. Lunge Kicks, 30 sec each side
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6. Mountain Climbers
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7. Speed Skater
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8. Goblet Squat – use a heavy weight, at least 10 lbs, this move will get your heart rate crazy soaring!
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Happy BLACK FRIDAY!!! Get your sneakers on and get shopping like you mean it! Or stay home and shop online. That’s what I’ll be doing.
DEAL ALERT for some of my fave things:
Miracle Noodles (zero calorie noodles) is offering 15% off! Woohoo! Need to do another FOOD BITES video soon! Use discount code “STAYSLIM”
Body Language Sportswear will give you $20 off $100! You know I am a big fan of their activewear because it fits so well. Use discount code “BLACK FRIDAY”
Mushroom Marinara Spaghetti with Miracle Noodles
Yummy yummy yummy! This is what I had for lunch today. It literally look less than 5 min to make.
Ingredients:
- 3-4 white button mushrooms sliced
- 3-4 tablespoons of marinara sauce
- 1 pack of zero calorie Miracle Noodle Fettucine
- a ton of sriracha hot sauce (but that’s just me)
This meal was less than 100 calories. Filled me up!!!
(Disclaimer: if you’re looking to lose weight or cut down on cals, these shirataki noodles are great filler uppers for the stomach. Volume wise it will get you full on no cals. But if you are at a healthy weight and don’t mind calories and nutrition, feel free to eat 100% whole wheat pasta!)
Creamy Green Avocado Miracle Pasta!!!
Here’s an all natural pasta recipe that’s sure to tantalize your taste buds! I loved that I did not have to use a pre-made sauce or add cream. The avocado is all you need for that succulent fatty taste without the guilt….mmmmm. This is a vegan friendly recipe.
INGREDIENTS (serves 2-3)
Sauce:
- 1 medium avocado
- 1/2 -1 lemon
- 1 cup full of fresh basil leaves
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- paprika or red pepper flakes to taste
Sauteed veggies:
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup frozen and shelled edamame
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
- little bit of extra virgin olive oil to coat pan
- salt and/or stevia to taste (I did not use a sweetener though. You may if it suits your taste buds)
Noodles:
- 1 pack of zero calorie Miracle Noodles per serving or plate
DIRECTIONS
1. Chop up your veggies. Sautee all of the veggies except for the tomatoes with a bit of extra virgin olive oil on a pan on high heat. Once the veggies look cooked and the onions are slightly opaque, add in the tomatoes at the end. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. To make the sauce, add the avocado, lemon juice, and basil into a food processor. Blend for about 10 seconds. Then add the salt, paprika/red pepper flakes, and pepper to taste.
3. Wash your Miracle Noodles thoroughly in warm water. Then pat try on a paper towel. Right before serving, heat them up in the microwave for about 45 seconds to 1 min.
4. Scoop some of your cream sauce onto the heated Miracle Noodles and stir until noodles are all green! They really absorb the flavors of the sauce. Mmmm…
5. Next transfer the green noodles onto a clean plate and top with your sauteed veggies.
6. EAT!!!!!
NOTES
This is absolutely DIVINE for me. It’s one of those dishes where you need to take time to think about eat bite to truly savor the freshness of the basil, the aroma of the onions, and the slight spiciness of the paprika. Of course this is all made “to taste” to experiment 1/4 tsp of things here and there to make it yours. The above recipe is how I ate it and I absolutely loved it!
This is me being surprised at how amazingly good it was!!!
You can get Miracle Noodles here on their website. As you all know, I am a HUGE FAN of feeling full without feeling the unnecessary calories. The nutrition in this meal comes from all of the fresh veggies you used. So good!!!
NUTRITION FACTS
For 3 servings, each serving has 237 calories, 12.8g of fat, 26.3g carbs, 12.1g fiber, and 10.2g protein. (I used sparkrecipes.com to calculate this.)
You guys. I am so happy right now. I think I have JUST made the discovery of a lifetime.
Has anyone ever tried TVP? Or textured vegetable protein? It is basically dried soy chunks that can be manipulated to take on the flavor of whatever you’re cooking. Most people use it as meat substitute since it is kind of shaped like ground beef! (For you vegetarians out there, you’re probably already familiar with this…but I am jumping for joy!)
Here’s the revolutionary part though…as I was boiling it, I tasted it plain and it reminded me A LOT of oatmeal. OMG discovery part - I will try to eat this as oatmeal with bananas and berries next time. Don’t judge me yet…haven’t tried it BUT this is REVOLUTIONARY for those of you trying to get more protein in for muscle building.
Anyway! Check out the nutrition stats on this amazing food! 120 cals, 0g fat, 14g carbs, 23g protein.
A 10oz bag of this at Netrition costs $2.49. You may be able to find it at your local Whole Foods or Trader Joes.
I bought this yesterday and couldn’t WAIT to make it for dinner tonight. Neither could 3 other people. Uh oh. Impromptu healthy chef time.
I decided I’d go all Asian Teriyaki style and use my FAVE zero calorie Miracle Noodles in a creative lil healthy stir fry. Can’t go wrong with that right? Not only was this my first time EVER using TVP…I also had to impress non vegetarians!
Take a look at my photo story to see how I did.
INGREDIENTS for Teriyaki TVP Noodle Stir Fry
(serves 4)
*1 onion
*2 large carrots
*3/4-1 cup of dry TVP
*3 bags of fettucine Miracle Noodles
*handful of snap peas
*some teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce to taste
*1/2 lemon
DIRECTIONS:
Beautiful ingredients! All out and ready to go!
Whoa. TVP. The star of the show.
Simmer the TVP with water just to cover the top of it. 5-10 min. That looks like an upside down happy face.
Meanwhile, cut the 3 bags of Miracle Noodles and drain them into a sifter. Remember, it smells a little fishy in the beginning but no worries you can rinse it away!
Can’t believe it’s zero cals. That’s because it’s a gel noodle that’s 97% water!
Cuttin’ them veggies.
Check out that TVP!!! Looks like ground meat? YES! I added some soy sauce, chli sauce, and teriyaki sauce to taste here after removing from the pan. This was my first time cooking TVP in my life so I couldn’t wait to taste it. Tasted kinda chewy like meat. It totally took on the flavor of the sauces. Super yum.
Sautee time! Sprayed the bottom with a lil PAM.
Tossed in the rest of the goods. Made sure the onions turned opaque. I also boiled the carrots for a bit before adding in, but if you like em crunchy you don’t have to.
Snappin a pic of the snap peas.
Finally added in the noodles on top. Added in soy sauce, teriyaki, and chili sauce to taste. Then the final touch was a squeeze of a lemon. I added a 1/2 lemon and it added so much zing and zest…mmm delish! Almost show time!
There it is! My first ever TVP creation. Garnished with a lil dill on top.
So how did I do? It was a hit!!! Everyone liked it! I owe it to TVP for being so easy to cook with.
Hope you guys go out and get yourselves a bag of TVP! It is seriously so awesome. I might try it as “oatmeal” tomorrow. This may be a disaster but who knows. Maybe I am a genius ;P
<3 Cassey
You can get Miracle Noodles here and Textured Vegetable protein here!
