My Favourite Channel

Ever since I've started this programme, my favourite channel on TV has to be the Asian Food Channel! I watch it thinking there must be something I could do that I could tweak to fit my eating plan and I watch it so I could drool at the yummy food that I am not allowed to eat YET.

Why YET? I was on the phone with Shane today and we talked about how that this is only temporary. Phase 1 is intentionally made the way it is made so that you detox your body and eliminate food that potentially cause weight gain. That would be pretty much all the sugars, starches and carbohydrates. And I know I'm not supposed to weigh myself daily but I am amazed with the results so far! So being in this temporary state is when you reach your goal weight. For me I estimate 6 to 8 months for me to do that. I shall continue to be patient and forge on!

I will not talk about Phase 2 or 3 so much now until I am close to getting there. But I do look forward to that moment!

Anyway, back to the present moment. I have not managed to get recipes from AFC but what I do notice is how simple it is preparing fantastic looking meals! And I become aware of the ingredients they put in the dishes. My favourite chefs thus far has to be Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. They both seriously rock in the "making-food-look-good-and-simple" category!

Here are more meals which I have prepared and also one prepared by Mummy and the other by Auntie Lauren since the last post.

Beef in curry powder (I checked the ingredients, they are all legit for the eating plan!) stir fried with ginger, garlic and onion and lime juice sitting on a bed of chinese cabbage stir fried with garlic and mushrooms and tomatoes.

Home made fish ball soup with broccoli, chinese cabbage and mushrooms. 

Add soy sauce to taste.

Chicken Salad - Chicken was coated with turmeric powder before frying in olive oil (not too much oil. You need a good non-stick pan). Used lettuce and celery and chili to give it colour.

Beef coated in curry powder. Served with stir fry kai lan and asparagus. 

The asparagus made a big difference to the taste. It was so yummy!

Zana the Chef

One of the great things about doing something like this is actually taking the time to prepare your own food. That means when you begin to do that, you end up spending more time at home to have your meals instead of going out. I’m not sure in the long run if you save money because I’ve yet to experience the long run and I am cooking for one person.

Also, taking the time make your own meals I would say that it’s a sign you are loving yourself because you care enough what goes in your food which subsequently links to what goes inside your body.

Again my parents have been really instrumental in making all this happen. Of course I have a dad with a sense of humour! He has a few times during dinner actually picked up something and offered it to me! And then he says, “Oops! You can’t have this!” Apparently, according to him he was testing my will power! Thanks dad!

Beef cooked in soy sauce (the kind you're allowed to eat) with black pepper and white pepper served with a simple stir fry of vegetables cooked with onion and garlic.

Accompanied with rice cakes on the side unless you have them as snacks.

Chicken soup with kai lan. I added soy sauce to the broth and adding ginger makes a big difference. Black pepper has become my best friend. I served it with lime and some tabasco sauce for some more kick!

Stir fry beef with broccoli or stir fry broccoli with beef! I marinated the beef in soy sauce and pepper. Apparently soy sauce has become my other best friend! Again, the ginger makes a big difference.

Straw mushrooms cooked in olive oil and garlic. Served with tuna stir fried with onions, garlic, ginger, tomato and kai lan and balsamic vinegar to taste. Now this tasted a bit strange. I ended up having it with one teaspoon (yes you read it right! That's the amount I'm allowed to have) of low fat mayonnaise.

The First Meal

It was an interesting experience having to go shopping for the food you can eat. Actually the food you can eat is all there but it's just that we tend to go for convenience and eat the food in another form whereby you have no idea what they have put in it. Armed with my shopping list, I scoured the aisles of Supasave Gadong searching for the food that will fuel my body. It was no surprise that the place I hung out the most was the vegetables, fruits and fresh meat section. I made a brief stint to the oils section looking for olive oil, the biscuits section looking for rice cakes and lastly to the soft drinks section. According to my eating plan, I can drink a can of diet coke! Seeing that I love sugar, I took the opportunity to make sure I had some. You never know what will happen! The other ingredients were already found in my kitchen and a quick survey before shopping allowed me to gauge what I needed and what I didn't need.

At night, I had the most fun task of actually weighing my food and I don't mean that sarcastically either. But before that, a quick stop to Hua Ho Yayasan to buy that digital weighing scale. Luckily with the festive season there was 15% off my purchase and I paid $25.41 for the scale.

So there I was weighing out my chicken breasts and beef slices to make sure I meet the requirements. Packaged them separately according to weight and stored them in the freezer so the next time I know I will have the right amount ready to be cooked. 

After all that was done, I got down to preparing my first meal. A quick look at a recipe book and lemon chicken seemed pretty easy and straight forward plus the recipe allowed me to use the ingredients I was allowed to eat. I chose to use lime instead since there was an abundance of it in the fridge. I stir fried some vegetables to go with it (after weighing it out of course) and I made my first meal.

Now at first I was concerned with the portions because I never in my life have had to weigh my food so I thought that the portions would be small but once I had it all on my plate, it was definitely enough.

Lime Chicken and Stir Fried Vegetables with Balsamic Vinegar

How did it taste? At 4am, not too bad if you like food that is slightly sour to your palette. It certainly filled me up with two rice cakes and some mango to top it all off.

Here's the recipe if you would like to try this at home:

Lime or Lemon Chicken (depending which you prefer)

1. Mix the chicken breast with cracked black pepper and sprinkle some salt

2. Coat the chicken with some olive oil

3. Squeeze a few limes (or limau kasturi) until you think you have enough juice.

4. Heat the non-stick pan with a little bit of olive oil. Cook the chicken.

5. Once cooked, pour in the lime juice.

And you're done!