“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby

Pad Thai.

Okay, okay. So when you read the words, "pad thai," you automatically think of a delicious  peanut noodle dish that is well over your day's calorie limit. Well, this recipe IS a delicious peanut noodle dish but minus all the calories :)

For this recipe, you'll need:

-2 tbsp organic peanut butter or PB2 (woops, completely forgot to put this in photo!)

-2 bags of pasta zero shirataki noodles (15 kcals per pack)

-4 heads of broccoli

-hand full of carrots

-3 garlic cloves, minced

-1 shallot, chopped

-1/2 pack of mushrooms

-1/4 cup lit soy sauce OR see low cal recipe below

-dash of sea salt

Low Cal/Low Sodium Soy Sauce Substitute:

-2 tbsp sodium free vegetable stock

-2 tsp red wine vinegar

-1 tsp stevia

-1/8 tsp ground ginger

-dash black pepper

-3/4 cup water

-dash garlic powder

-dash sea salt (do not add if watching sodium intake)

Step 1

Open up the packs of shirataki noodles and drain them in a pasta strainer. Give them a little rinse with water. Just a forewarning, they smell kind of gross but have no fear! They taste just fine. These noodles are made of a soluble fiber called "glucomannan" that come from a Japanese yam. They are slightly more gelatinous than regular noodles but hey, they are gluten-free and contain barely any calories. Definitely something worth exploring if you ask me.

Once you've drained the noodles, pat them dry onto a paper towel and set them aside as you begin prepping the sauce.

Step 2

Grab your broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms and steam them in a pot.

 Cover those babies up until they are ready!

Step 3

As your veggies are steaming, mince the garlic and chop up that shallot.

Step 4

Now it's time to prep your homemade soy sauce. Grab all your ingredients, measure them out and heat them on medium heat for about 10 minutes. 

Step 5

As your soy sauce is being heated, grab another sauce pan. Add a tbsp of coconut oil, your minced garlic, and chopped shallot. Keep this over medium heat, occasionally stirring the mixture until the shallots become soft.

Step 6

As your 2 sauce pans are at work, the veggies should be about done. Take them out of the pot and chop them up into small pieces. Add them 

Step 7

Combine everything! Add your chopped veggies and soy sauce to your sauteed garlic and shallot mixture pan. Toss it all together with 2 tbsp of peanut butter (or PB2 if watching kcals). Add a dash of sea salt if you so desire. Lastly, grab those shirataki noodles and toss them into your sauce.

Step 8

Voile! You are finished with your healthy and incredibly satisfying pad thai.

**Side note: Depending on your taste preferences, you could always add more peanut butter and/or salt to your sauce. Also, you could play around with whatever veggies you'd like to add as well. Snap peas are always a great alternative or addition :)

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." -Dalai Lama

Homemade Mochi.

Ever wondered where you could get your carb fix without the guilt? UM homemade mochi is the answer. So what is mochi anyway?

Mochi is a nutritious bake-and-serve rice snack made from whole grain brown rice. It is all-natural... without additives, preservatives or colorings. It's also wheat-free and gluten-free.

 

You can buy mochi already made at Whole Foods in the refrigerator section. It looks like a brown rectangle and comes in multiple flavors. My personal favorite is the raisin & cinnamon mochi. It looks like this:

 

 

Okay, so if you've decided to purchase the mochi, it's super simple to make. You preheat the oven to 450 degree fehrenheit, break the entire block into little pieces, place the pieces on a baking sheet, and bake them for 10 minutes. DONE. They come out warm and fluffy just like a doughy cinnamon roll! Then you can add whatever toppings you'd like. For example, I added honey and non fat cream cheese to mine. UNBELIEVABLE.

BUT, if you'd like to make your mochi from scratch rather than buy it from the store, here's how you do it (raisin & cinnamon flavor):

-1 cup organic sweet brown rice

-1/2 cup water

-pinch sea salt

-1/4 cup raisins

-2 tbsp cinnamon

Bring a pot of water to a boil and then add your sweet rice. Cook it and then let it sit for about 10 minutes. Once it's cooled off, fluff it with a fork and then put the rice and raisins into a blender. Blend it up just until it's fluffy. In another bowl, add the water, blended rice, cinnamon, raisins, and salt. Make sure your hands are washed because you're going to want to knead the mochi with them. Presto! There's your mochi :)