the one by two kitchen
blog is a collection of homemade recipes and postings of food that I love and adore. Most of the recipes are very homemade-y, easy to make (no longer a Uni student but a workaholic graduate now) and most importantly - look and taste good. Enjoy browsing and trying out the recipes.

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*I last updated this blog on: 3 February 2012! Check the one by two kitchen homepage


Showing posts with label south beach diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label south beach diet. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 February 2011

Spoon yourself healthy (and possibly slim!)

I'm getting better at keeping up with my blog these days!

You might also notice that I've put some neat categorised Quick Recipe archive on the left tab of the page to make it easier for all of us to locate the recipe (yes, including me).

Today's post is rather general-ish, and it's about my ongoing obsession of eating (or you might call drinking) soup for both lunch and dinner. I love having soup because it's very simple to make, very healthy and really - this might sounds rather controversial - but I spoon myself to sliminess with homemade soups while occasionally splurging on dark chocolates and sweet treats! I'm sure the basic reason on why I got slimmer is because of the good healthy stuffs that I eat and the fact that I get fuller faster with the soup, thus reducing the chance that I overeat! Anyway this seems to be working - the more I eat at home, the healthier I am and the easier my effort is to keep my weight on track.

The very good thing about having soup for meals is that the high water intake will help us to get fuller faster and longer. Moreover it's free from oily stuffs (although most of my stir-fry dishes are made up of very little oil). Also - you can put a variety of 'good food' ingredients in your soup, like vegetables (Chinese cabbage is my favourite), mushrooms, wholewheat pasta, egg and meat/seafood ingredients. I've always liked meat rolls that Chinese hotpot restaurants serve, and so I bought the whole big pack of Pork Rolls from Oriental supermarket and stuffed them in my freezer. I normally use Baby Button Mushrooms because they are cheap and perfect in size - I just need to slice them in two before putting them into my pot. Tomatoes are good as well - the tomato flavour and juice will spice up your spoon and gives your soup a tomatoish flavour. Tomatoes in soup go great with eggs!

There are a lot of varieties of ingredients that you can mix in to create your own soup. Below is the picture of what I'd call a veggie + seafood soup marinara!

Veggie + Seafood Marinara Soup


The most simple way of making the soup mix is do it the oriental style. I simply boil around 400 ml of water, add chicken cubes (Knorr), and wait until the liquid boils before adding the stuffs in! You might also want Teriyaki sauce for some flavouring, or simple salt and pepper will do too!

I also put wholewheat pasta in, I strongly believe in the goodness of complex carbohydrates. My new favourite is Conchigliette wholewheat pasta for kids (yes - for kids). I found mine from ASDA.

Cooked Conchigliette wholewheat pasta

























Below is what I just had for my late lunch/ early dinner!

Pork Roll and Conchigliette Soup

Basic Oriental Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
  • 400 ml of water
  • Knorr chicken cube (or other brand) (1 cube)
  • Teriyaki sauce (optional) OR salt/pepper to add to the taste
  • Fujian cooking wine (Chinese/Japanese cooking wine) [OPTIONAL]
  • Chinese cabbage (5 leaves, chopped)
  • Pork Roll for hotpot (from Asian supermarkets) OR can be changed to seafood stick/fish balls/beef balls/ diced chicken breasts
  • Egg (preferably free range and organic - 1)
  • Wholewheat pasta (approx. 50 grams)

How to Prepare:
  • Cook the pasta, drain and separate in a bowl
  • In a small saucepan, boil 400 ml of water
  • Put the heat to medium
  • Add the chicken cube, stir until completely dissolved
  • Put the Chinese cabbage in, wait for around 4 - 5 minutes
  • Put around 15 small pork rolls (or see substitute) in (to your liking), stir and wait until pork rolls have turned to grey cooked colour
  • Crack the egg in, and carefully stir (I prefer not to break the egg's yolk) and wait for 3-5 minutes
  • Splash two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce in or give more salt/pepper/seasoning
  • Pour over the pasta, mix and ....
  • SERVE!
How easy! And how nice and warm for the winter days! If you're living in a hot climate - this dish would also be very nice after a long day of work or study. It surely will replenish and freshen up the mind and body!

LOVE. the one by two kitchen.

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Interesting the one by two kitchen dishes pictures to keep you entertained!



Hello again everybody!


I decided to be more active for the one by two kitchen blog in 2011, and here comes the second post of the year!


This one is not a recipe post, though. This is an overview of what I have been creating and cooking in the past week. During the past week I have somehow found myself being filled with constant rush of creativity (especially in creating new recipes and getting inspired!) At night time I often think about new recipe dishes. I guess this must be because of my current obsession of staying slim with less carbs; this seems to intrigue the creativity side of me to find new dishes that are appealing and carb-less.. Anyway since not everyone here knows me personally on Facebook (I use Google Analytics to analyse my blog's popularity and such and found that the people who read my blogs actually come from everywhere), I decide to post this picture+blog collections!


So if you're a fan of carbohydrates, please put up with me! Next week I shall be introducing healthy carbs back to the blog!


First and foremost - seafood. Have I mentioned how big of a fan I am of seafood and especially of prawns?


King prawn medley with tomato and spring onion; served with miso soup! 

I've always loved king prawns, and this is the first time that I got king prawns with tails while in the UK (M&S Food store). The taste of this dish reminds me of the Mediterranean sea and of the beaches in Bali. Yum!

Onto the second one then! This is chicken breast filled with cheese slices wrapped with Parma ham (better known as Prosciutto!) and served with asparagus (one of my favourite vegetables of all time).

Chicken breast and asparagus, each wrapped in Prosciutto and served with tomato. Chicken breast is filled with cheese slices.

Notice the singularity. Tomato. That's because my personal view on this dish is that since the prosciutto would make the chicken and asparagus rather salty, the tomato should add a bit of tanginess to the dish and thus lessen the saltiness. I might be wrong, Gordon Ramsay might laugh at my idea if he must, but I can only say good things about this recipe. It makes me want more, although I'm still working on how to minimize the saltiness. The reason I did not choose bacon and use Prosciutto is because of the high fat content of bacon! I'm going to experiment more about this dish, perhaps using mozzarella and other type of hams!

Seafood, tick. Chicken, tick. I'm also a big fan of extra lean meat. Although I'd be honest, I don't eat red meat or pork that much. However I got hold of extra lean pork in Sainsbury's and, at one night, this inspiration comes. I'm still very proud of this dish that I found, I simply love the taste. What else can I ask?

the one by two kitchen take on Buta no Misoyaki with lettuce and egg!

Basically they're made up of two extra lean porks, egg, lettuces, Japanese soy sauce, and miso paste. I'll post the recipe of this (I think I've made it to close-to-perfection by my standard). The picture above is when I'm cooking the dish (it looks beautiful!) Here's another picture (after balancing the lights).


And below is the picture of when it is served:


That's Buta no Misoyaki ala the one by two kitchen for you!


Second to last is another take of pan-seared tuna steak, this time served with Mascarpone sauce. Alright I did not make the Mascarpone sauce, ok? Gordon Ramsay made this sauce and sold it for Comic Relief and I happened to pass by this product in Sainsbury's! Still - what a nice dinner for me!



And below is the close-up look of my Pan-seared Tuna with Mascarpone sauce (and asparagus!)


Right - and I'm finishing off with a vegetarian (not vegan) dish! It's Quorn chicken with mushroom , pan-fried with lighter than light Flora butter!


PS: Super amazing way to start off your day!




ALRIGHT - that's about it for now! I'm going to post more recipes as soon as my brain starts working (I'm gonna be brutally honest - I am going crazy with my university's research project going now, I mistook socks for my clothes, misread stuffs and just went brain-crazy the whole day today).


Leave me some messages and comments. Or subscribe to this blog!


I shall want you to read more interesting posts later!


LOVE. the one by two kitchen.