If you like grilled asparagus, here’s an easy way to make it without firing up the outside grill.
Ingredients
Asparagus, Refrigerated (I get mine at Costco)
Sea salt
Pepper
Canola oil spray
Instructions
With the grill plate inserted, turn on your Ninja Foodi, hit the Grill button until its set to MAX, set the time to 7 minutes, and hit the START button
Snap off the ends (white part) of the asparagus
When the grill is preheated, spray the grill with Canola oil, lay the asparagus flat on the grill, spray Canola oil on the asparagus, and sprinkle on some salt and pepper
Half way through grilling flip the asparagus
When it’s done, just remove it (I use tongs) and eat!
So, I’m currently trying this Keto diet which calls for low carbs. Since french fries are not low carb, I needed a substitute. Tofu seems to fit the bill thought it’s a lot more expensive that potatoes. Anyway, the one I’m eating is from Costco. It’s rated “Firm” with a rating of 4 out of 6 on the firmness scale. One pack contains 5 servings and each serving contains 70 calories and only 1g of net carbs (fiber doesn’t count). So, one pack contains 350 calories.
Here’s a recipe to make air fried tofu cubes.
Ingredients
tofu
salt
Instructions
Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and sprinkle on some salt
In Ninja Foodi, hit air fryer button and set time to 20 minutes
After preheating, spray canola oil on air fryer basket and put tofu in
Halfway through cooking, flip or stir tofu, spray canola oil on tofu and sprinkle on more salt
Many people will snack on something like potato chips. Personally, I prefer Ruffles Original. But, 160 calories from just 12 chips is unacceptable.
Here are some healthier and/or low calorie alternatives.
Celery Sticks with Garlic Hummus
The hummus comes in at 60 calories per 2 tbsp. That seems like a lot but at least they are healthy calories rather than empty ones. Celery sticks are only 7 calories per stick and they mostly contains water.
Edamame
This is an interesting type of food. It has the same amount of protein as meat. It often comes precooked so you just need to heat it up. Eating it involves removing the pod and eating the peas. The fact that you have to remove the pod can limit your consumption since it takes time. The taste is pretty neutral. Half a cup is only 94 calories.
Pasta can be a very filling and tasty meal to have. But, the pasta itself is high in carbs and calories. For example, angle hair pasta (my favorite) has 200 calories per serving.
Fortunately, there are substitutes for pasta that taste almost exactly like pasta. For example, Costco sells Healthy Noodles. On the box, there’s a recipe for Italian Marinara using these healthy noodles. The noodles are precooked and each box contains 6 packs.
Nutrition-wise, they only contain 30 calories per serving. Plus, it’s got zero carbs because all of the carbs are from fiber which doesn’t get digested by the body and simply passes through. This is ideal if you are on the Keto diet.
Preparation is very easy. Just rinse the noodles and use them since they’re precooked. I tried this out with Rao’s marinara sauce and surprisingly, it tasted about 90% the same as regular pasta. I still prefer the taste of regular pasta, but for the calories saved by using Healthy Noodles, it’s worth the small difference in taste.
You can also try Shirataki Noodles by Miracle Noodle. They sell an angel hair style noodle containing only 5 calories per serving. No wonder it’s called Miracle Noodle!
UPDATE: I actually tried making pasta with Miracle Noodle Angel Hair style noodles. The shape wasn’t like angle hair pasta at all but more like spaghetti. More importantly, the texture wasn’t particularly good. It was too sticky. I think the Healthy Noodle option above tastes better.
You can also Nasoya Pasta Zero spaghetti but like the Miracle Noodle Angel Hair style noodles, I didn’t care for the texture which tasted like rubber.
Chicken breast meat is packed with protein and very little fat. But, it often comes out dry after baking. Here’s a recipe that is quick to cook and results in a more tasty, tender meat.
Ingredients
Chicken breast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbs canola oil or olive oil
Instructions
Mix all spices in a single spice dispenser
Cut up the chicken breast into 1 inch wide strips
In a bowl, rub olive oil over the chicken strips and sprinkle on the seasoning. Mix with hands to ensure complete coverage.
Set air fryer to a target thermometer temperature of 165 F.
Insert thermometer such that tip is at center of thickest part of one chicken strips
When air fryer has preheated, put all strips in
When half way done, turn strips over
When target temperature reached, remove legs and let stand for 5 minutes
So, the other day I went to Quizno’s and had this Chipotle Steak and Cheddar sandwich. It was mighty delicious so I had to try to recreate it.
Here’s how it came out.
It was actually really good so here’s the recipe. Note: I substituted steak with pastrami. You can also use roast beef.
Ingredients
Pastrami (from Costco) – may substitute with roast beef
sliced green bell pepper
sliced onion
cheddar cheese
Chipotle mayonnaise (substitute with hummus for healthier alternative)
Francisco Gourmet Sesame Seed Rolls
Instructions
Slice the bell pepper and onions into slivers.
Heat up some pastrami in a microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes. If the bell pepper and onion are cold from being in the fridge, heat them up along with the pastrami.
Spread some Chipotle mayo on both sides of the bread
Spread pepper and onion evenly on bread, add pastrami, add cheddar cheese and toast in over until cheese has melted
