I'm a trained cook with nothing to do (not working right now), so I tend to fuss around with recipes, making them as healthy as possible. Here's something I've been eating for lunch a lot lately :eat:

Open-faced Shrimp, Cucumber and Red Pepper Sandwiches:

This is a light-tasting but otherwise filling sandwich.

90g Grainery Bread* (3.2 oz)
3 T Non-Fat Miracle Whip
15 slices Cucumber (Long English)
3" of Green Onion, chopped
2-3 leaves Fresh Basil**
3-4 rings Red Bell Pepper, chopped
85g frozen, cooked small shrimp***

*This is fresh bakery bread that I buy at my local grocery store. It's full of good stuff like flax, mustard seed, wheat, sesame seed, and a bunch of other grains. It's chewy and always fresh and it beats the hell out of boring 60%-100% whole wheat bread. You can probably find something similar almost anywhere.

**You can use a big pinch of dry basil, but it doesn't look as nice.

*** FitDay.com lists the shrimp at around 116 Cals and 2 grams of fat for the same serving size. The package in my freezer says 60 Cals and 0 grams of fat. I'm going with the latter, as it sounds more accurate to me.

A) Spread 2 of the tablespoons worth of Miracle Whip on the slices of bread (that's 2 T overall, not 2 T each). You can leave the bread fresh or you can toast it, but this is supposed to be a thin layer, and it tends not to spread as easily on toasted bread. Top the bread with the slices of cucumber (thin slices will stick better).

B) Thaw shrimp in a bowl with some water (you can use hot tap water if you're in a hurry, seen as it's already cooked. The temperature will balance out and the shrimp will still be cold enough). Drain the shrimp and squeeze the excess liquid out.

C) In the same bowl, mix the shrimp with the red pepper, onion, basil and last tablespoon of Miracle Whip. Divide between the bread slices.

Total Cal: 333, Fat: 3g, Carbs: 50g, Protein: 22g.

Next time, I'll post another shrimp/prawn recipe. It's for a pasta with a cream sauce (it even has cheese), I just need to figure out some details of the nutritional content :read:

Very nice, I'll be trying this one in the next few days. I just so happen to have all the ingredients for once!

Looks very nice, but I'd definitely not use dry basil. I just think it taste terrible.

How about a tiny bit of pesto genovese if you don't have fresh basil? Would add a bit more calories to it, but most would be from healthy fat from the olive oil...

I don't like dry either, not in comparison to the fresh stuff, which I can get in huge bunches at the farmer's market for 75 cents. Three kinds, too: Thai, Lemon, and Purple Basil.

Sure, pesto can work (although I'm not quite sure what pesto genovese is. I'm not familiar with commercial versions of something I could make easily on my own ;) It would be like me buying one of those jars of pre-chopped garlic). I'd still keep that bit of MW in there, just because it adds a bit of sweetness, and balance in flavour is always important.

I don't like dry either, not in comparison to the fresh stuff, which I can get in huge bunches at the farmer's market for 75 cents. Three kinds, too: Thai, Lemon, and Purple Basil.

Sure, pesto can work (although I'm not quite sure what pesto genovese is. I'm not familiar with commercial versions of something I could make easily on my own ;) It would be like me buying one of those jars of pre-chopped garlic). I'd still keep that bit of MW in there, just because it adds a bit of sweetness, and balance in flavour is always important.

pesto genovese is the "normal" pesto...don't think you can use pesto rosso or anything like that(and besides I don't like pesto rosso ;) )

Ah. We just call it 'pesto' over here ;)

Am I correct in thinking that pesto rosso is... pink?

Ah. We just call it 'pesto' over here ;)

Am I correct in thinking that pesto rosso is... pink?

indeed..usually made with sun dried tomatoes(yuck) and sometimes paprika

Veggies and Prawns with Wheat Pasta in Cream Sauce:

In a large, heavy pot (preferably metal. Glass pots are the devil), add water and salt (it should taste 'salty like the sea'). Place on high heat (if it comes to a boil before you need to add the pasta, turn the heat down a bit to avoid boiling off all of your water).

In a large, heavy metal pot (please no aluminum):

Spray 1 second's worth of canola oil spray over bottom of pot.

At medium to medium-high heat, saute the following in the order listed, making sure to 'sweat' (releasing moisture and turning translucent) the vegetables partially before adding the next one:

1 small onion, cut in half, cored and sliced thin
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large red pepper, sliced into thin strips or chunks
1 small zucchini, sliced thinly
8 large mushrooms, sliced or cut into chunks

Stir frequently to heat evenly. Once vegetables appear translucent, add:

2/3 cup White Sauterne cooking wine (That's the cheap wine in the grocery store. You can use any other white wine).

Stir to deglaze bottom of pan, and boil off the alcohol. Next add:

1 can (284ml) condensed chicken broth.

Bring to a boil, reducing the liquid down by about 1/3 (this is really an instinct thing. This is to concentrate flavour, and the sauce doesn't need all of the liquid. When in doubt, over-reducing at this point is okay. All that you're losing is water weight ;) ). While this is reducing, add to the pot of boiling, salted water:

170 grams (dry) whole wheat pasta, such as bow-tie, rottini, or even fettucine. Please don't overcook the pasta (follow package directions and test pasta once you think it might be done). Pasta that isn't cooked just until al dente makes Human Clay cry... Please make sure to stir pasta frequently.

Once reduction is finished, add:

1 can (12.5 oz, I believe) of Evaporated Skim Milk.

Bring back up to a gentle boil at medium to medium-high heat, and then add:

5 T all-purpose flour, mixed with cold water just enough to make a pourable 'slurry'.

Stir frequently (as the milk and flour add more sugars, which heightens the risk of burning the sauce), until the starch has thickened the sauce. It should be able to coat a spoon (a saice is NOT a thick paste), and when tasted the sauce should be smooth and not starchy and granular in texture (which would mean that the starch has not properly gelatinized through cooking). Next, add:

1 package (340g) raw prawns, deveined and shelled.

The prawns will only take a minute to cook, tops. Once that's done, add:

Salt and Pepper to taste (24 dashes salt, and usually 20 dashes of pepper for me. Tonight I used a very small fresh spicy pepper I picked up at the market)

Several leaves of fresh basil, roughly sliced into 'ribbons' (Oh, it's not lazy... it's 'rustic')

Combine cooked, drained pasta with sauce. Serves 4. Top each plate with 2 T of freshly grated parmesan.

One serving contains the following:

Total Cal: 484, Fat: 5g, Carbs: 64g (Fibre 5g), Protein: 39g.

My RealQuickWholebreastWrap
Two fairly large tortilla wraps (the ones I use are about 20cm in diameter)
1 skinless chickenbreast cut sideways in half
2-3-4 large mushrooms chopped up or chunked
1 paprika/bell pepper/peppers/whatever the damned thing is called in your region :-) chopped up or chunked
sour cream/creme fraiche
salsa dip

Take 1 skinless chickenbreast.
Cut it sideways in half.
When I say sideways I mean, put your hand on top of the breast, press down, and run your knife between your palm and the cutting board.

Put two halves in a baking dish. Splash a generous teaspoon of a BBQ sauce of your choice over the chicken and spread it so that it covers
the meat on both sides.

Put the dish in the oven at 200°C (Google says this is 392°F) and leave it there for 10-15 minutes or until both halves are cooked through.

After this has been in the oven for about 5 minutes put the mushrooms and paprika on a frying pan along with a small splash of olive oil and fry until the mushrooms are soft.

Take the mushrooms and paprika aside and wait for the chicken to be fully cooked.

Then nuke the two tortilla wraps for a few seconds, put the whole piece of chicken on the wrap, put the fried mushrooms and paprika on top, put some sour cream on there, some salsa dip also if you like, close the wrap and enjoy.

Total time: 20 minutes give or take.

Guestimate nutritional value (assuming a small 100gr. breast)

270 cal.
30 gr. protein
50 gr. carbs
6 gr. fat


I may be totally off base with the nutritional value, so please correct me if I'm wrong.