Rice Noodle Stir Fry

Happy almost Thanksgiving!  We already had one feast with Bob's side of the family this weekend.  It was just a warm up for the big day.  Speaking of warm up, it's been a whopping 24 degrees all day.  The dreaded season of winter is upon us.  I am the biggest baby when it comes to snow and freezing temps.  Bob isn't a fan either.  So this year we decided that instead of hibernating and going to bed at 6:00, we're going to try to enjoy winter.  We're hoping that skiing, tubing, etc. will make it go by much faster....(crossing my fingers).

In the meantime, I have another quick, easy, and healthy meal.  Involving these bad boys.

They're a lot lighter than regular noodles and have a much more intriguing consistency.  I use them in place of rice to go with a stir fry.   Also, they only take roughly 2 minutes to boil.

Rice Noodle Stir Fry
1 lb. chicken tenders
Chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 package rice noodles
Baby bok choy

For sauce:
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp corn starch

Start by cutting the chicken into bite size pieces.  Saute with a little oil, onion, garlic, and ginger until cooked.  Meanwhile, start boiling a pot of water for the noodles.

In a mixing bowl, combine ingredients for the sauce.  I added a whole tbsp of Sriracha to give it an  extra kick.  By the way, I swear that stuff is getting hotter with age.  Dump the sauce in with the chicken.

 Cook on medium heat until sauce thickens.  And don't forget to boil your noodles.  I always forget, so good thing these only take 2 minutes. 

Sidebar: Someone was patiently waiting for his own dinner...

 I also made some baby bok choy to go on top with the stir fry.  Bok choy is a Chinese cabbage that goes great with basically anything.

Chop it up and saute it with a little soy sauce and vinegar.

Serve the chicken and sauce over the noodles, with the bok choy on top.

It probably took longer to take the pictures than to actually make this meal.  Let me know how you like it :)

Simply Chicken Fajitas

The main thing my hubby and I have been working on with his diet is finding meals that are healthy, delicious, AND filling.  Kind of hard to do.  He told me the other day that these fajitas hit all of those points! The best part is that they are so quick and easy to make (definitely a plus for me).

I found these amazing low carb whole wheat burrito wraps at the grocery store one day.  I've learned that anything "low carb" is perfect for Weight Watchers, so I decided to try them.  They're so yummy!  We hate wraps that are too thick and inhibit the other ingredients from being noticed.  And Bob loves that he can eat 2 of them.  I love anything that has a few ingredients and is still flavorful!

Chicken Fajitas

1 lb chicken tenders
1/4 chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp lime juice
Whole wheat wraps
Lettuce
Shredded cheese

Heat up some oil in a skillet, then fry up the onion and garlic.  Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces.  Add the chicken to the skillet and saute for a few minutes.  Then add the seasonings and lime juice.   Continue to saute until cooked through.

Pile a few ounces of chicken onto a heated wrap and add your preferred seasonings!  We only add lettuce, cheese, and some taco sauce.  If I had the time, desire, and a less picky husband, I would add sauteed red/green bell peppers.

Bob cuts up some string cheese and puts it on his to further decrease the amount of points.  

I, on the other hand, load on the shredded cheddar like nobody's business :)

In other news, we invested in a new camera!  It was time that we took the plunge.  We're adults now, right?  So hopefully I can take improved pictures of my food.  Hopefully.  Photography isn't one of my strong suites. 

Sorry for the disappearance

I never realized that anyone actually read my posts until I stopped doing them.  While I quit blogging for the summer, I had so many friends and family members ask me if I was going to keep going.  It makes me so happy that someone appreciates my thoughts and ideas in writing :)

So much has happened this summer/fall.  Here's a little snapshot:

-I had gall bladder removal surgery
-My grandpa passed away
-I started a new job (again)
-Bob started Weight Watchers

...and I think that's it.  I took the summer off to spend time with family, read a lot of books, and work on stuff around the house.  I'm so thankful that I did that because I was able to spend plenty of quality time with my grandpa before he passed.  Now that the school year is in full swing, I really miss summer :(  Bob would say, "at least you have a summer."  To which I would reply, "you should have been a teacher." 

Speaking of Bob, he has had so much success with Weight Watchers.  I started cooking a ton of their recipes and we pretty much have it down to a science now.  That also played a part in my blogging hiatus.  It took awhile to navigate diet food and recipes.  I was basically following specific recipes to the ounce--we had to buy a kitchen scale to weigh all the food.  But now we got the hang of it and I'm able to make plenty of things that we used to eat.  He's been really successful so far.  He looks good, right??

We celebrated our 2 !! year anniversary last month at Niagara Falls.  We went on a little hike and ended up at this amazing area where all the locals go to catch salmon. 

I mentioned above that I had my gall bladder removed over the summer.  In past posts I talked about my GERD and food sensitivities.  Well, after having some tests done, I found out I had gallstones and my gall bladder wasn't working properly.  While this wasn't a critical thing, my surgeon felt that it would help with many of the issues I was having.  So I decided to have it out.  Needless to say the surgery went great and all I have to show for it are a couple of tiny scars.  And they're seriously tiny.  This surgey is done laparoscopically now so they barely make an incision.  While it was definitely not a good time, the recovery was fast and relatively easy.  The results?  Last week I ate a piece of pizza AND fried chicken, with no stomach pain afterwards.  It doesn't sound like much but for me this was a huge deal.  I still can't eat a ton of fatty, greasy food (which is ok) but in small doses I can tolerate it. 

So that's what I've been doing for the last 6 months.  My new job has kept me extremely busy, with a longer drive, and later hours.  But I missed writing and am going to try to get back into it!