Product Recommendation (low-calorie!!): Trader Joes' ready-made Roast Beef Hash

Photo borrowed from Michelle-Meals blog. Hers was the best picture that came up when I googled it looking for a photo.


I was at Trader Joe's the other day (surprise, surprise) looking for some new/interesting low-calorie foods to add to my pantry, and they happened to be sampling some of their prepared roast beef hash.

When it's made well, I really do like hash (in limited quantities, anyway), but I would never ever ever buy the stuff in a can - it's just. plain. foul. - and it's not something I would make from scratch cause I just don't want to put that much effort into a simple breakfast.

So, truth be told, if they weren't sampling it, I never would have given this a second glance if I saw it on a shelf. I would have assumed it was disgusting like all the rest and passed right on by. However, when I tasted the sample they had out, I really loved it!

It's not over-salted, the meat has a perfect, real-meat texture, like it was actually cut from a roast (as opposed to the processed mush that comes in normal prepared hash), and the potatoes are cooked perfectly.

One package would be enough to feed one hungry man, but for a bandster with decent restrictions, you get four perfect portions out of it (especially when you add an egg on top). Each portion is only 90 calories!!

It comes in a flat brown box (I wish I had taken a picture, but I forgot before I threw the box in the garbage), with a pouch of hash inside. All you do is heat it in a pan with a little non-stick spray (the instructions say to use oil, but I think the hash turns out great on its own without adding the extra calories) and add a fried egg on top and you have a delicious, and filling breakfast for about 160 calories!

FYI, this is a shelf-stable product in a vacuum-sealed pouch, it's not in the freezer section. Ask for it if you can't find it!

UPDATE: Here's another review with additional pictures. See? They like it too! :)

If you're anywhere near a Trader Joes, I highly recommend you buy it and try it!

Enjoy. :)

A simple, nutritious, and delicious breakfast - Fruity Cottage Cheese and Bananas

This is a simple breakfast I came up with the other day as I was looking through my fridge for items that could be mixed together. It was delicious, and you can mix in any sort of jam that suits your tastes.

This would also be a great meal or snack for any bandster in their "mushies" phase.

Combine 1/2 a sliced banana with a scoop of cottage cheese and top with dollop of any jam or fruit preserve of your choice.

Enjoy!

Just a couple more photos

From Saturday's trip to the market.

Seattle Photography

Taken in and around the Pike Place Market in Seattle yesterday...

A scale and a non-scale victory!

First of all, since starting my low-carb diet two weeks ago, I’m down 15 pounds!! I realize some of that is water weight, but not all of it, cause my pants are loser, so I’m thrilled! I plan to continue this through thanksgiving, take a few days off, and then go till Christmas. My goal is to start the new year at 225 pounds, which is completely reasonable, I think. That would be only another 17 pounds to go. I definitely think I can do that in a month and a half!

My non scale victory today was amazing to me… I changed my own flat tire on my car this morning!! ALL BY MYSELF!!

I’ve had flat tires before but, quite frankly, at 400 pounds, there was no way I was getting my fat ass down to the ground to raise up my car, lug heavy tires back and forth, and look like a gross, sweaty, grunting beached whale floundering around beside my vehicle. No way.

But today, I didn’t even think twice. I was strong enough to do it all, and I didn’t even sweat! Not even a tiny bit! (granted, it was about 45 degrees out, so that helped, but still!)

So yeah, something that most people can do without a second though because a huge victory for me today. I feel so great about myself today. :)

Almond Mushroom Green Beans

This is a great side dish for when you find really nice, firm, fresh, whole green beans in the produce section of your grocery store and want a simple recipe that will really let the beans shine through.

If you need to use frozen beans, I recommend a different recipe or sauce, as this one is very minimalistic and won’t cover up any bad beans.

Don’t even consider trying this with canned beans. That’s just kitchen blasphemy.


Ingredients…

1 lb fresh green beans, stem ends removed
¼ cup slivered almonds
6 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced (adjust garlic more or less to your taste is desired)


What to do…

1. Blanch the green beans – drop your green beans into a pot of rapidly boiling water and allow them to cook for only 3-4 minutes.


2. Remove beans from boiling water and IMMEDIATELY drop them into a bowl of ice water to shock the beans (this helps them keep their beautiful bright green color) and stop the cooking process so they don’t turn soft. At this point, your green beans should still be fairly crunchy, but not raw. Now you can drain the beans so they have a chance to dry while you're preparing the sauce.



3. Toast your almonds – lay them out on a piece of foil on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes until just golden brown. Don’t let it go to long, they go from golden to burnt very quickly!



4. In a nonstick skillet, melt your butter over medium-low heat.


5. Add your garlic, continue cooking over LOW to give the garlic time to permeate the butter without burning. Stir frequently. Cook for up to five minutes ensuring garlic doesn’t start looking too brown (burnt garlic = BITTER!)


6. Stir in your mushrooms and cook until soft and brown.


7. Stir in Almonds and green beans.




8. Mix thoroughly and serve with my delicious mushroom topped, cheese-stuffed chicken!




Nutrition info for 1/6th of the recipe...

Mushroom topped, cheese-stuffed chicken

The name pretty much says it all! Chicken breasts pounded out flat, topped with cheese, rolled up and baked, and topped with a mushroom cream sauce.

This was served with some really delicious Almond Mushroom Green Beans.

Take note, this chicken is a two-day recipe. Day one is the stuffing and rolling, and then you need to let the chicken rolls sit overnight so that they hold their shape when you cook them on day two.

Hope you enjoy!

Makes six servings… recipe can be easily multiplied or divided depending on your needs.

Ingredients…

Chicken rolls:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder
12 oz of your favorite cheese (I used 6oz gouda and 6oz muenster)

Sauce:
3 tbs butter
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
Pinch salt
1 can chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream


What to do…

Day 1: Chicken prep

1. Pound your chicken breasts to about ¼ inch thick. Normally I see instructions to do this between two sheets of plastic wrap, but I don’t think it works well that way – it all kind of moves around, the plastic wrap sticks to itself, it’s just a mess. The easiest way I’ve found to do this is to lay each chicken breast on a cutting board, top with a gallon-size ziplock bag and pound away. No saran wrap sticking to anything when you go to move it!



2. Prepare/portion your cheese – slice up your cheese into finger-size pieces a little smaller than the width of the pounded chicken. Split into six equal portions so you can easily grab each portion as you prepare each chicken breast.


3. Top each chicken breast with a bit of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and 2oz of the cheese and roll up. Your chicken breasts may not look perfect or be shaped well, but don’t worry! Just wrap it all up as best as possible and tuck all the ends under.



4. Roll the chicken up tightly in foil. This will help it hold its shape during cooking.


5. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2:
Part 1 – Cook the chicken

1. Unwrap all the chicken breasts and place in a greased baking dish. Lightly salt and pepper the tops of all breasts.



2. Place under the broiler in the oven for about 10 minutes to brown the tops.



3. Continue baking at 350 degrees until a thermometer inserted in the center of a rollup reads 155 degrees.

4. Remove chicken from the oven and let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. The temperature will continue to rise as it sits, and can be served after it hits 160 degrees.



Part 2 – Make the sauce

1. In a skillet (either stainless steel or nonstick, it really doesn’t matter), melt butter over medium heat. Add Mushrooms and a pinch of salt, cook until softened, but not fully cooked.




2. Stir in chicken broth, simmer until reduced by half.



3. Stir in heavy cream and continue simmering until again reduced by half.





Part 3 – Serve

1. Top your chicken with your mushroom sauce, serve with my Almond and Mushroom Green Beans, and enjoy!!!



Nutrition info for a full chicken roll with 1/6th of the sauce. Bandsters with good restriction will probably only want half, especially with green beans on the side!