I found this recipe today. Looks good, but I am sure I will make some minor changes to the recipe. It looks like it still has a lot of sodium. Do any of you make a similar recipe?
Serves 4
Skip the deep-fried calories that usually go along with this take-out favorite by roasting marinated tofu to crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside perfection.
2 cups steamed broccoli
2 cups steamed brown or white rice
1. To make Crispy Tofu: Cut tofu block into two broad slabs. Wrap tofu slabs in paper towels, and place between two cutting boards. Weight top cutting board with soup cans, and press 30 minutes. Unwrap tofu, and cut into 1-inch cubes.
2. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, oil, garlic, and ginger in resealable container. Add tofu, and toss to coat. Marinate 30 minutes, or overnight. (Tofu should absorb all liquid.)
3. Preheat oven to 350°F, and coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Sift cornstarch over tofu, and turn to coat evenly. Spread tofu on baking sheet. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until firm and crispy, turning several times to brown all sides.
4. To make Sauce: Whisk together broth, sugar, soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sesame oil, cornstarch, tomato paste, and sambal oelek (if using) in small bowl. Set aside.
5. Heat vegetable oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions, garlic, and ginger, and stir-fry 1 minute. Add broth mixture, and cook 1 minute, or until thickened. Stir in Tofu. Serve with steamed broccoli and rice.
Nutritional information
Per Serving (1 cup tofu, 1/2 cup broccoli, and 1/2 cup rice):
Calories: 335
Protein: 14 g
Total Fat: 12 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Carbohydrates: 42 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 332 mg
Fiber: 4 g
Sugar: 11 g
Corinna, thank you for the welcome. I like to take a basic recipe and tweak it a bit if I feel it will be better that way, usually never making it the same way twice.
We had a nice day today, a little chilly but very nice. This was the last lesson in my Tuesday Bible study, but we have a few get-togethers in the coming weeks. I don't drive so some very nice ladies come and pick me up then we go to lunch then someone takes me home. I wore a pair of my summer pants and sandals today. I bought the pants several years ago and had to take them in by folding the waistband in on itself and stitching. I did this twice on each side in the back. Last year I cut one open on each side, but this year I had to take the other out. This was the last straw. I've fooled around enough and its time to get serious!
I epic-failed on my eating today. I'm blaming TTOM but I'm not sure what came over me. I just kept snacking even though I wasn't hungry. I know I'm an emotional eater, and have worked for years to finally 'get over it' but every once in a while I just keep eating! So I will be aware and try to do better tomorrow.
I tried to find a recipe of my mother's and while I was there I weeded out some recipes. I'm trying to clear up clutter, we have a small old house with no storage and I'm tried of having to move everything to get to what I want. I feel like all I do is shift stuff around.
I know what you mean about pants. I have three pairs of brand new pants I have never wore. I bought them so I would have something to wear if I needed them. However, I wear sweatpants alot when I am at home. I just tried to put them on and I couldn't even budge them over my hips. Yikes. That was a big eye opener for me. I thought I was big when I bought them so now I am even bigger.
I am also an emotional eater. That is what kills me on staying healthy. However, it also has to do with being bored at the same time. So if I can stay busy doing something else too, then I can avoid the over eating. I just need to keep my mind focused on something else besides food. That can be really tough. Some days I spend a lot of time thinking about food.
Tips to Help You Fight Food Cravings and Satisfy Your Needs with Mindful Eating
Emotional eating is turning to food for comfort, stress relief, or as a reward rather than to satisfy hunger.
Most emotional eaters feel powerless over their food cravings.
When the urge to eat hits, it’s all you can think about.
Mindful eating is a practice that develops your awareness of eating habits and
allows you to pause between your triggers and your actions.
You can then change the emotional habits that have sabotaged your diet in the past.
Corinna, Thank you for the link and the empathy. I did much better with my eating today. Funny story. I made this big declaration to my friends, my Hubby, and you guys that I was going to lose weight and today my mom brings me cake. She wasn't trying to sabotage me, she and Dad went to their Tuesday night Bible study and it was Mom's turn to bring a cake for dessert and they had a lot of leftovers, so she brought some to us. Hubby and I each had a small piece after dinner. Cake is pretty rare in our world.
Wednesday mornings my parents come and get me we go to a Bible study at their church, then out to lunch, and if I need to go shopping they take me {sometimes appointments too, I'm proof positive that parenting is never done}. Afterwards, I did 4 loads of laundry, hardboiled some eggs for a salad for Friday, and baked off a package of chicken for dinner and leftovers.
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Corinna, I learned several years ago to never get into the habit of wearing sweat pants or stretchy pants of any kind. They are so much more comfortable when you are lounging at home, but they make it so easy to gain weight and not realize it because they grow with you. I force myself to wear jeans around the house, even if they are tight and uncomfortable. The "uncomfortable" makes me think twice before eating something I shouldn't.
I don't think I am an emotional eater, but I am an impulsive eater. I pop something in my mouth before I think about it. In most of these instances I am not hungry, and the items doesn't even have to look good to me, I eat it because it's there. When I lived alone there was not any extra food in the house, ever, and that didn't happen. But now, DH has a lot of snack food in the house and I have to work very hard to not pop it in my mouth.
After retiring, money has been scarcer, and I have broken my habit of impulse shopping. Still working on impulse eating. It is a habit. Hunger has nothing to do with it.
Corinna, Penguin, Carol Sue: I've also been an emotional/habitual eater for years. One of the things that low carb eating does is help to break that, because there are very few things to binge eat that satisfy those cravings. In my case, it was chips and chocolate, ice cream and donuts.....
That being said, I've had somewhat of a setback. I've been having very achy legs and muscle weakness. For example, one flight of stairs at work and my hamstrings hurt and my legs feel rubbery when I reach the top. That was never the case before I changed my diet. I researched it, and it seems it is a common side effect of decreasing carb intake, possibly related to an electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, etc. I eat plenty of low carb veggies that are good sources of potassium and magnesium, and I haven't decreased my sodium intake. Those are the three minerals most frequently associated with the muscle weakness and pain. I do need to drink more. I'm not sure which route to take, as the recommendations vary from adding supplements and increasing hydration to adding carbs or decreasing exercise. I haven't felt like doing much the past couple of days, and I think it's due to the overall sensation of lethargy/aching/weakness. There is even something called the "Low Carb Flu", which is a cluster of flu-like symptoms related to decreased carb intake. I don't remember struggling with this when I went low carb in my 30's, but I'm not in my 30's anymore. My fitbit numbers will definitely decrease this week! I think I will change my weigh-in day to Sunday to coincide with the day I get my weekly fitbit report. I have thought about adding a source of carbohydrate early in the day, like oatmeal for breakfast, but I know me and I know I would be back to donuts and ice cream in no time!
Corinna: I've never made anything similar to the recipe you posted. I'm not sure if I've even had tofu. I've toyed with the idea of preparing Chinese or Thai cuisine from scratch, but have always been intimidated by the unfamiliar ingredients, as in where to find them, etc.
It's cold and rainy here. Kind of cozy. Definitely not conducive to encourage one to get out from under a fuzzy throw on the couch....
RE: Stretchy pants. I'm with Corrina, not sweat pants but elastic waste stretchy ones. Comfort reigns supreme in my life. My jeans I wear when going out, but they do make trouble getting my leg into our car. Some stretch, but I'm so daggone short legged that I simply almost have to lift the leg to go in.
One thing I'm doing that keeps me from snacking in the evening with DH at TV is to play computer games on lap top or on his fancy I phone. With hands occupied and mind too, he can even watch what ever he likes and I don't care.
Wednesdays are exception. PBS has Nature and Nova. I do love science programs and DH grumbles but he enjoys them as much as I do.
Wish we had April's rain - even my daughter 35 miles away got good rain, only our pavement is wet, rain guage doesn't even register rain yet for almost 12 days!!!
I'm with CarolSue, Retirement income or rather very limited income has put stop to many things. When a kid needs help it really hurts to see that small savings drop. Impulse buying has never been something I did partly because even with the business in the house, I took no salary despite the work I did with specs and taxes and contracts. First paycheck was when we moved out of house and joined our son in business. I was only one who didn't finish college (close, but no degree). My income was never much but it did help a bit with social security, thank goodness.
Today is day 4 of really, really watching what I eat and logging every bit of it. Also logged my gardening effort and time at gym. Today was supposed to be spent house cleaning but finances need done and that is a siting job. We'll see next Monday if I made any kind of movement DOWN on scale. Sure hope so.
One of the reasons I knit so much is to keep myself from snacking. I know I don't eat as much when Hubby is home, but since I'm home alone the majority of the time I've had to work long and hard to keep my boredom eating under control. Making sure we don't have trigger foods around helps as April mentioned.
My friend who picks me up is in her early 70's, I had mentioned my pants issue to her and she said this is why she prefers elastic waist pants. I pretty much only wear jeans and khakis out of the house, but around the house I wear yogapants. My jeans are all stretchy, which helps but my reasoning is if I didn't have my khakis to keep me in check I would just get bigger and bigger with no restraint or reminders.
Pretty good day so far, my friend picked me up, we had our weekly Knitting meeting, then out to lunch again. I kept busy this afternoon by reading and making a bean and chicken salad for dinner Friday night. Hubby and I are headed out to my parents to visit, and Dad is helping Hubby with our taxes. I get to visit with Mom.
Hubby doesn't get home for a few more hours so I'm hoping I'll convince myself to do a few exercises.
ETA: I did some kettlebell exercises followed by a nice stretch. Yay me!
Last edited by patchworkpenguin; 04-07-2016 at 11:32 PM.
Cold today. The weather can't make up it's mind if if wants to rain or have sunshine. The wind knows it wants to blow. Wearing a big sweatshirt today to keep warm. I hope we don't get more days of frost. Maybe this weekend I will make a good stew. My body sure could use the warmth. I feel like just sitting around watching TV under a big warm blanket, and sleeping. Hope you all have a good day!
Well, I'm not a loser lately...I've been watching what I eat but have been drinking some wine, and the calories really add up!
April, sorry to hear about your lethargy and sore muscles... I hope your body adjusts to the low carbs soon!
Corinna, Carol Sue, Sandy, Penguin - I do like to wear my stretchy yoga pants, but I work from home on a computer all day and even jeans get uncomfortable when sitting. I know it's tempting to just be a slob at home, but I'm trying hard not to do that!
It's cold again today and I see snow is in the forecast again. Can't wait till it's warmer and I can get out and walk more.
April Please check the side effects of each of your medication. One for colestoral caused 2 of my friends to have some of your symptoms. One was on drug test because here's was so high and dangerous, but had to come off the test, that was over 8 years ago so that is on the market now but don't know name. Other friend had to come off it, too for symptoms similar to yours. Legs stopped hurting by end of the month. DH, too. He only takes it Monday, Wed, and Friday and has done better. Doctor agreed. Let me know what you find out.
I've also heard that doing without carbs can cause sore muscles. Balanced low diet is what I choose. Getting a bit of results, finally Sandy
Sandy: Thanks for your concern about possible medication side effects causing my symptoms. I don't take any meds, so I'm pretty sure the weakness, pain and exhaustion were caused by carbohydrate depletion. I ate a small bowl of oatmeal and a couple of slices of melon and felt a little better by the evening. I waited three days in the hope it would resolve as my body adjusted, but I felt terrible. I was surprised, after I researched it, how common of a side effect it is. I never had anything like that happen when I went low carb in my 30's, but like everything else as I age, "I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore!" I think I will eat a small amount of healthy carbohydrate early in the day from here on out.
Andi: I weighed 169.2 this morning. Not sure if it counts or not, given how awful I've been feeling. LOL. Sort of like on "The Devil Wears Prada" where Emily Blunt says, "I'm only one stomach flu away from my goal weight". I'm counting it anyhow! I was miserable enough to have earned it. We'll see if it lasts with the addition of a few healthy carbs.
Penguin: You are fortunate indeed to be surrounded by so many loving friends and family. What is your current Bible study? I know what you mean about elastic waist pants. As a LPN, that's what I wear everyday. After a while, even elastic becomes unforgiving and begins to cut into your skin!
Corinna: I stopped at Kroger on my way home in the wee hours and came out 30 minutes later to find my Jeep completely covered in snow. It's cold and I don't want to get out from under the covers today, either. LOL.
Carol Sue and Terapet: Hope you are having a great weekend!
I got a migraine yesterday that is still lingering today, so I've either been napping or watching TV.
April, the study we just finished on Tuesday was written by one of the church's former pastors, John Sartelle, and is on Prayer. The Wed Bible study at my parent's church is on John and is line-by-line by the senior pastor. We tend to get sidetracked a lot so its probably going to take us 2-3 more years to reach the end.
General Tso’s Tofu with Broccoli and Rice
Emotional Eating vs. Mindful Eating
She wasn't trying to sabotage me, she and Dad went to their Tuesday night Bible study and it was Mom's turn to bring a cake for dessert and they had a lot of leftovers, so she brought some to us. Hubby and I each had a small piece after dinner. Cake is pretty rare in our world. 
My fitbit numbers will definitely decrease this week! I think I will change my weigh-in day to Sunday to coincide with the day I get my weekly fitbit report. I have thought about adding a source of carbohydrate early in the day, like oatmeal for breakfast, but I know me and I know I would be back to donuts and ice cream in no time!
