Tuna & Soybean Rolls

Alrighty.. gotta eat up all the soybeans I boiled the other day.
So, I decided to get a little creative and made tiny tuna rolls with soybeans instead of rice.
Remember how I recommended having some precooked soybeans in the refrigerator?  Well, they come in handy and you can mix things up to give soybeans a different flavor and texture to keep things a bit interesting.

Some background info on this recipe.
I used low sodium tuna that my wife picked up from Trader Joe's.  One of the key elements of my lifestyle was to go low sodium.  Doctors say that low sodium diets are good for the heart, kidneys and it also eliminates excessive water weight.
I also used soybeans instead of rice to add more protein while lowering my carb intake.  However, remember to still have a healthy portion of carbs from food such as whole wheat bread or old-fashioned oat meal.  I usually start my day with a cup of steel-cut oats.  (I'll share this on the next blog post).

Ingredients
1/2 cup of soybeans (150 calories)
1/2 cup (small can) of white tuna (120 calories)
3 sheets of sushi seaweed paper (30 calories)
2 tsp of Vietnamese hot sauce - Sriracha (10 calories)
1/2 tsp of minced garlic (10 calories)
1/2 tsp of sesame oil (20 calories)
Total Calories = 340

First, prepare the soybeans by blending them into a paste.  I used a hand-held blender/wand to do this.  The soybeans can be a bit thick for it to blend well, so feel free to add a tablespoon or two of water.  When completely blended, it should be the consistency of a thick guacamole.

Next, prepare the tuna by mashing the tuna, garlic, hot sauce and the sesame oil together with a fork.
Finally, once the two main ingredients are prepared, cut the seaweed paper sheets into 4 quarters.

Here is what I made, but without the Sriracha to avoid the sodium.  However, I noticed that Sriracha only has 100mg of sodium per teaspoon, so I added some later while eating them.

The tuna is on the left and the soybean mixture is on the right.


Now, all you need to do is, sit down and start rolling your own miniature rolls by spreading the soybean mixture on the seaweed paper followed by a layer of the tuna mixture.  This recipe should make about 8 to 12 rolls depending on the amount of filling used. 

Here is a picture of my stack of seaweed paper and my first roll in progress. 

And...  this is what it looks like when it's rolled up.

Enjoy this healthy and creative harmony of tuna and soybeans with a serving of vegetables from the sea!

Soybean Salad

Hello everyone.
It's been a while and I apologize...

Let's open up with a very simple soybean salad that I enjoyed for lunch yesterday.
As shared earlier, soybeans are excellent sources of protein and fiber.
This bowl of soybean salad is about 550 calories.  Some might argue that a small hamburger can also be around 550 calories, but as shared before, these are very nutritious and healthy calories instead of the fatty calories that are in burgers.  Remember, not all calories are created equal.  We must weigh out the nutritional value of the food we eat along with the calories.  The sweet yellow peppers contain tons of vitamin C and tomatoes contain a good amount of vitamin A and C.... all with 0 grams of cholesterol. 

Now, enough with the lecture (nagging)... here is the quick recipe.

Ingredients
-  1 cup of cooked brown soybeans.  (376 calories)
-  1 Roma or medium size tomato (20 calories)
-  1 yellow sweet/bell pepper (50 calories)
-  1 tsp of sweet-hot mustard (10 calories)
-  1 tsp of lemon juice (5 calories)
-  2 tsp of olive oil (80 calories)


Mix the sweet-hot mustard, lemon juice and the olive oil in the bowl you will eat out of.  This is your dressing.  Then,  throw the cooked and chilled soybeans into the same bowl along with the diced tomato and peppers.  Try to dice them into sizes no bigger than the soybeans.  Now, toss the salad and enjoy!

Quick Tip #1: It's good to have some precooked/boiled soybeans in the refrigerator.  You can blend it as a quick homemade soy milk or use it in a simple salad recipe like this one. 

Quick Tip #2:  My wife and I came across this brand of sweet hot mustard.  It is the best I've had so far. 

  

Soybeans

Soybeans were a great part of my diet during the first few months of losing weight. 

I sort of neglected these beautiful round things, so I found some dried soybeans and boiled some today. 

Dried soybeans are easy to find in asian/Korean markets.  They just need to be washed and soaked in lukewarm water for about 5 hours to get them nicely reconstituted to boil or steam them. 

Boiled soybean can be blended with some water in thr blender to create a nice and thick soy milk like smoothie. 

Have it for breakfast. They are rich in protein and all sorts of nutrients. 

See for yourself here. http://ccm.about.com/detail?fid=11450

And... A quick look at the nutrition facts. Enjoy!!

(Leave a comment if you don't know where/how to get dried soybeans. )

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 cup (256.0g)

Amount per serving

Calories 376  · Calories from Fat 157

Total Fat 17.4 g  · 27%

    Sat. Fat 2.0 g  · 10%

    Poly. Fat 8.2 g

    Mono. Fat 3.3 g

Cholesterol 0 mg  · 0%

Sodium 38 mg  · 2%

Total Carbs 28.3 g  · 9%

    Fiber 10.8 g  · 43%

    Sugars 0 g

Protein 33.2 g

Vit A  · 9%

Vit C  · 124%

Calcium  · 50%

Iron  · 50%

* Based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Giving vs Sharing

Let's exercise and feed our heart and spirit with the word of God. 

Weren't we all told to learn to share?

What is the difference between sharing and giving?

.....

What if I said...

"I'll give you a dollar. "

How about if I said...

"I'll share this dollar with you."

Are we giving our whole heart to God?

Matthew 6:24 says:

²⁴ "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Let us give our whole heart to God instead of sharing a portion of it.

Baked/Stuffed bell peppers

This is a near-vegetarian dish that I enjoyed with my wife on Friday.
This recipe will make 2 servings with less than 300 calories per serving and enjoy it for lunch with a small glass of orange or apple juice to make it a 400 calorie meal.  

Ingredients
2 green bell peppers (medium - large) - 60 calorie
3 cups of steamed spinach - 120 calories
1 large egg - 80 calories
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light Creamy Swiss - 70 calories
pinch of paprika - 5 calories
2 slices of Swiss cheese - 200 calories


First, we will prepare the spinach.  I used about 5-6 cups of raw baby spinach and steamed them quickly in the microwave.  It only takes about a minute and thirty seconds to steam the spinach in a bowl in the microwave.  Once the spinach is cooked, put the spinach in a zip lock bag and throw the 2 wedges of the creamy Swiss cheese and mush/mix them around in the bag, then set the bag in the freezer to cool.

As the spinach/cheese filling cools, wash the bell peppers and cut the stem part of the bell pepper about 1/2 inch from the top.  This should give you a cup-like bell pepper.  Click here to see a quick video I found on YouTube that should help you see how this is done better.

Now should be a good time to preheat the oven to 450 degrees while you finish preparing the peppers.

Crack and beat one egg in a bowl.  Then, take the spinach/cheese filling from the freezer and pour the egg into the zip lock bag and mush/mix them into a nice thick filling.

Prepare a cookie/baking pan and cover it with aluminum foil and lightly grease it with olive oil.  Then, take the bell peppers and fill them with the spinach-cheese-egg filling to the top.  Once the peppers are filled, you can season it lightly with some paprika.

Now, place the filled bell peppers on the greased pan and place it in the oven.  TIP: if the bell peppers are not standing up nicely because of an uneven bottom shape, crumple up some aluminum foil and place the bell pepper on it to help it stand.  You can see how I also did this in my picture above.

Bake the peppers until the spinach/cheese/egg filling gets firm (roughly about 30 minutes).
Once the filling is firm (check by poking it with a fork), place a slice of cheese over it and let it melt for a few minutes and take them out of the oven.

Let the peppers cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!

Today's Lunch

- Chicken breast fillet
- pan grilled eggplant & tomatoes with light pepper seasoning. (no salt)
- small glass of OJ.

Total estimated calories - 350.

This is a well balanced portion of protein, vegetables and fruit.

Later on, I will have 6 small sweet peppers as a snack. They are an
excellent source of vitamins A & C.

Spiritual health as well

As many of us may have done so, one of my new year's resolution is to finish reading the Bible before June.  Eating healthy has become a very important part of my life, but let us not forget about our spiritual well-being.

I would like to share this verse today from Matthew 6:22-23:
²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

We cannot know where our lives are headed towards unless we allow God to open up our eyes and light up our paths.  Praise the Lord for he has revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom of God to us.