I learnt something today that kinda boggled my mind. I’d always thought a salad sandwich for lunch was as healthy as you could possibly get (well, that is, short of eating a few lettuce leaves alone). So I was proud that I had 3 slices of soy & linseed (!) bread, avocado, tomato, cheese and 97% fat-free mayo.. and an apple for dessert. Imagine my shock when I put it into my Diet Diary at CalorieKing.com.au and the meal came up to a whopping 700 calories!! I would have thought it’d be half that, at least. Upon further investigation, it was the bread and cheese that contributed 550 of the calories – that’s INSANE. A McDonalds cheeseburger meal would be around 700 calories too, and I’d MUCH rather THAT!!
So a lesson well learnt today: what is perceived as a “healthy” lunch really is high in calories and fat, and you might as well have McDonalds which is far more satisfying and tasty! This was nice though, I have to admit. And really really cheap to make 🙂
Toast with melted cheese, avocado, tomato, mayo.. with an apple
Now, in comparison, this meal below was 240 calories per person. That’s about 3 times less calories than the above!! And it was soooo satisfying and lovely 🙂 The story is, I had a bunch of leftover basil from last night’s pasta dish, so decided that Thai basil chicken & veg was the way to go. It works out to around $5pp for the ingredients and takes just an instant to cook.
I made up the recipe along the way. I discovered I’d put in too much sugar, and my sugar peas got overcooked ‘cos I put them in there right at the start. Anyway, the recipe below has been modified to correct the mistakes I made 🙂 I was happy with the dish though – it was really tasty and so satisfying, especially because I knew it was healthy!
Some of the veggies, chopped up
Cooking it all together
Thai basil chicken & veg
Thai basil chicken & veg (serves 2)
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 bunch fresh basil
1 red chilli, sliced
Few slices of ginger
1 small onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
15 snow peas
1 cup sliced mushrooms
200g chicken tenderloin or thigh, sliced thinly
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp coconut cream
1) Stir fry garlic, chilli, ginger, onion in oil for a minute until fragrant
2) Add carrots, mushrooms and chicken, cook 3 mins. Add 1 tbsp water.
3) Add snow peas, basil, fish sauce, black soy sauce, pepper, sugar. Cook 2 mins.
4) Remove and serve on rice or noodles. Garnish with fresh basil leaves.
Anyway, in other news, Chris and I are doing the Multiple Sclerosis 8km charity run this Sunday! It’s at 8am, which is going to hurt. Why do they always make runs so early in the morning?! Anyway, I’ve exercised Mon, Tues, Wed this week and I’m doing it again on Sat.. so I’m confident that I’ll be able to do the whole 8km running non-stop. But Chris reckons he can only do 4 so we’ll probably walk some of the distance, phoooey 😛 I’m really really looking forward to it though! I’ve been looking forward to it eagerly all week.. I like the fact that it’s 8km – it’s a challenge for me and I’m really keen to do it.
And straight afterwards, we’re off to the Ferret Social Day! We’re going to bring both our babies to play with the other ferrets, and meet other crazy ferret fanatics 😉 Misty and Star are getting along well now, bouncing and playing with each other.. it’s so cute. They’re so mischevious and their antics just make me laugh! And yet when they curl up on my lap and cuddle in to sleep, it makes my heart melt. I’ll have to take a photo of them together soon..
your thai basil chicken vege dish looks sublime!!! was it “dry” or did it have a gravy base? I bet the gravy will taste good with rice or noodles!
It had a bit of a thick gravy base, but I didn’t want it really soupy.. if you do, you can just add in a tablespooon more water 🙂
ooo, thanks for the tips!! 🙂 I can’t wait to try it!
your thai basil chicken vege dish looks sublime!!! was it “dry” or did it have a gravy base? I bet the gravy will taste good with rice or noodles!
It had a bit of a thick gravy base, but I didn’t want it really soupy.. if you do, you can just add in a tablespooon more water 🙂
ooo, thanks for the tips!! 🙂 I can’t wait to try it!
Ouch! Yes, the cheese and mayonnaise will definitely up the calories. The avocadoe is fatty, but all the good fats. I love avocadoe!!!
Ouch! Yes, the cheese and mayonnaise will definitely up the calories. The avocadoe is fatty, but all the good fats. I love avocadoe!!!
Ferret social day! Are ferret’s really big in AU? I don’t think we have anything like that in the US. I was thinking about getting a ferret as a companion in my apartment.
They’re not that popular, so us ferret-owners are pretty close and we have regular events 🙂
Ferrets make great pets for working people or people that live in apartments! Try looking it up online, they’ve got great info and I totally recommend a ferret as a pet, over a cat or dog 😛
Ferret social day! Are ferret’s really big in AU? I don’t think we have anything like that in the US. I was thinking about getting a ferret as a companion in my apartment.
They’re not that popular, so us ferret-owners are pretty close and we have regular events 🙂
Ferrets make great pets for working people or people that live in apartments! Try looking it up online, they’ve got great info and I totally recommend a ferret as a pet, over a cat or dog 😛
The colours are so pretty!
Dunno which pic you’re referring to, but my fave’s the 1st one, with the bread – so much red and green 😛
yeah bread’s a bad choice when you wanna eat healthy.
I actually thought soy & linseed bread would be super healthy,, didn’t realise there’d be so many calories in it?! So strange..
it is healthy but packed with energy. i think the deal with soy and linseed is that you could get away with just a slice or 2 at most to fill you up. it’s healthy in the sense that it’ll take a while before you’re hungry again because of its low GI and the time the body takes to digest all that grainy bits!
I find that when I have 2 slices, I’m hungry 2 hrs later 🙁 I really need 4 to fill me up ’till dinnertime.. I dunno whether it’s just ‘cos I’m greedy or if the low GI stuff just doesn’t work with my stomach! Grr..I still reckon it’s nicer than white bread now though, it’s more interesting 🙂
I’ll have to try that stirfry sometime! It looks good.
It’s real easy to make, which is the best part! 😉
Vegetable fat is good fat though… I really don’t think the health content of any meal is measured by how many calories it is! If you have that salad sandwich for lunch everyday for the next 10 years it’s guaranteed to be good for you, whereas if you had a Maccas cheeseburger for lunch everyday for the next 10 years, well, you would probably have a heart attack in the next 5 years 🙂 You should also never eat fat free food because they contain more processed ingredients and more artificial flavours (esp artificial sweeteners) which make you feel more hungry and you’ll eat more, hence the diet food industry is doing so well because it’s really not making anyone lose weight!!
Also, you know how people go on the Atkins diet which is not to eat any carbohydrates (so no bread, pasta or rice) and heaps and heaps of red meat, and you can also eat lots of other high sugar/fat/oil products. And it works wonders, but I think losing lots of weight at the detriment of your health is really not very good at all.
Nah the calories came from the bread and cheese, not the avocado and tomato.. fat-wise though, definitely the avoado but it’s good fat anyway, like fish, so that’s OK.
Ehh.. not eating carbs.. that would screw your body up long-term, I reckon. Plus, I’m a carboholic, I can’t even survive one day without a whole lot of carbs 😛
the avocado added some fat, but no worries, it’s the healthy kind (heh, I love avocado and guac and the only dip I let meself indulge in). It’s probably the cheese and mayo that got you. 🙂
that sounds soooooo good though…especially when my lunch was baked chicken and steamed broccoli. Blech…
and here i thought avocado and tomatoes were healthy 😉
Oh they are! It’s the bread and cheese I called out 🙂
The colours are so pretty!
Dunno which pic you’re referring to, but my fave’s the 1st one, with the bread – so much red and green 😛
You thai dish looks yum – I make something similar to that and it’s really tasty and healthy. We eat it at least once a week. It also works well with big fat prawns.
Without the coconut cream, it’s even healthier! But not creamy..
It’ll be terrific with prawns!!I wish I’d thought of that 😛
Mine doesn’t have coconut milk, though it does have honey which gives it a nice sweetness. I will try it your way though!
Ohhh honey’s a better idea, I put sugar instead!
MMMM!
tomato/avo/cheese melt looks delicious!
add chicken or bacon bits and it’d be even better. :9
Mmmmm bacon bits on top would be yum :)~ But not very healthy, haha!
yeah bread’s a bad choice when you wanna eat healthy.
I actually thought soy & linseed bread would be super healthy,, didn’t realise there’d be so many calories in it?! So strange..
it is healthy but packed with energy. i think the deal with soy and linseed is that you could get away with just a slice or 2 at most to fill you up. it’s healthy in the sense that it’ll take a while before you’re hungry again because of its low GI and the time the body takes to digest all that grainy bits!
I find that when I have 2 slices, I’m hungry 2 hrs later 🙁 I really need 4 to fill me up ’till dinnertime.. I dunno whether it’s just ‘cos I’m greedy or if the low GI stuff just doesn’t work with my stomach! Grr..I still reckon it’s nicer than white bread now though, it’s more interesting 🙂
I’ll have to try that stirfry sometime! It looks good.
It’s real easy to make, which is the best part! 😉
Vegetable fat is good fat though… I really don’t think the health content of any meal is measured by how many calories it is! If you have that salad sandwich for lunch everyday for the next 10 years it’s guaranteed to be good for you, whereas if you had a Maccas cheeseburger for lunch everyday for the next 10 years, well, you would probably have a heart attack in the next 5 years 🙂 You should also never eat fat free food because they contain more processed ingredients and more artificial flavours (esp artificial sweeteners) which make you feel more hungry and you’ll eat more, hence the diet food industry is doing so well because it’s really not making anyone lose weight!!
Also, you know how people go on the Atkins diet which is not to eat any carbohydrates (so no bread, pasta or rice) and heaps and heaps of red meat, and you can also eat lots of other high sugar/fat/oil products. And it works wonders, but I think losing lots of weight at the detriment of your health is really not very good at all.
Nah the calories came from the bread and cheese, not the avocado and tomato.. fat-wise though, definitely the avoado but it’s good fat anyway, like fish, so that’s OK.
Ehh.. not eating carbs.. that would screw your body up long-term, I reckon. Plus, I’m a carboholic, I can’t even survive one day without a whole lot of carbs 😛
the avocado added some fat, but no worries, it’s the healthy kind (heh, I love avocado and guac and the only dip I let meself indulge in). It’s probably the cheese and mayo that got you. 🙂
that sounds soooooo good though…especially when my lunch was baked chicken and steamed broccoli. Blech…
and here i thought avocado and tomatoes were healthy 😉
Oh they are! It’s the bread and cheese I called out 🙂
You thai dish looks yum – I make something similar to that and it’s really tasty and healthy. We eat it at least once a week. It also works well with big fat prawns.
Without the coconut cream, it’s even healthier! But not creamy..
It’ll be terrific with prawns!!I wish I’d thought of that 😛
Mine doesn’t have coconut milk, though it does have honey which gives it a nice sweetness. I will try it your way though!
Ohhh honey’s a better idea, I put sugar instead!
MMMM!
tomato/avo/cheese melt looks delicious!
add chicken or bacon bits and it’d be even better. :9
Mmmmm bacon bits on top would be yum :)~ But not very healthy, haha!