Favorite P90X-compatible recipes

[FitRunner]

I offered to share some of my favorite Chinese P90X recipes in another thread, but I figured perhaps starting a new thread would make it easier for everyone to find them, as well as future recipes others may want to add.

For simplicity, I'll post each recipe separately, with the name of the dish as the title.

I hope someone will enjoy these!

Teresa

[FitRunner]

Portion approach labels: 2 vegetable for 1/4 of the whole dish.

Ingredients
4 medium Chinese eggplants (or 2 big round ones)
3 tbsp oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 slices ginger, finely chopped
6 spring onions
1 tbsp chili paste
60 ml (1/4 cup) water

Sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (yellow wine, but dry sherry works well too)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil

This recipe is meant to serve four (as part of a Chinese meal with several dishes). 1/4 of the whole dish has approximately the following nutritional data when prepared without cooking oil, but with sesame oil and sugar in the sauce:

100 Cal total, ~83 from carbs, ~17 from protein, ~16 from fat, 6.5 g fiber. 82% of the total calories are from carbs. Obviously, this is two P90X veggie servings. You can either eat 1/8 of the whole dish or count one recipe serving as two servings of veggies. (Hint: this stuff is awesome in fried rice the next day. If you are in a multiple-carb-serving phase, of course.)

1. Cut long eggplants lengthways, then cut each half into 5 cm (2 in) pieces. If using round variety, cut pieces 5 cm (2 in long) and 3 cm (1 in) wide.

2. Combine all the sauce ingredients and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a wok (optional), and when hot, add the eggplant, garlic and ginger and stir-fry until the eggplant absorbs the oil and begins to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes. If not using oil, wait for the eggplant to moisten and for the flesh to change color. You may find yourself with a pan or wok that's overflowing with eggplant pieces - don't worry, they will shrink!

4. Add the spring onion and the chili paste and cook for a further 2 minutes, then add the sauce and stir to combine all ingredients. Add 50 ml (1/4 cup) water and cover with lid. Lower heat and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes.

5. Transfer to a serving dish.

Once you've chopped everything this is a fast dish like most Chinese dishes. If you're not feeling like peeling and chopping garlic and ginger, you can buy them pre-diced in jars.

The eggplant in this dish is usually shallow-fried, but this recipe uses 3 tbsp oil and 60 ml water to soften the eggplant. I've found that you can eliminate the oil if you use a non-stick pan or wok. The water released from the eggplant seems to create good contact between the eggplant and the pan, so that the eggplant softens fine.

You can also cut the sugar in the sauce if you like, or even the sesame oil. I keep them for flavor, especially the sesame oil. I also don't bother to add more salt to the sauce, there's plenty in the soy sauce and there's plenty of flavor to go around already, I don't miss it.

This is northern-style cooking and my absolute favorite Chinese dish! <3

[FitRunner]

Portion approach labels: 2 protein, 1/2 fat for 1/3 of the whole dish.

Ingredients
500 g (1 lb) fresh green prawns or tiger prawns, shelled and deveined
5 red chili peppers, fresh or dried
60 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil (I use 1 tbsp and get away with it fine)
8 cloves garlic, smashed with side of cleaver and skinned
6 slices ginger, finely cut into shreds
3 tbsp chili paste, preferably garlic chili paste (as opposed to vinegar chili paste)
6 spring onions, cut into 2.5 cm (1 in) sections

Marinade
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (yellow wine, but dry sherry works well also)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water

Sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp ketchup (optional, I always leave it out)
1 tsp salt (optional IMO)

1. Mix the marinade in a bowl, then add the prawns and toss with a spoon to blend. Leave aside to marinate for 20 minutes.

2. Combine all the sauce ingredients and set aside.

3. Cut chilies lengthwise and scrape away the seeds and fibers.

4. Heat the oil in the wok and, when hot, add the chilies and let them scorch. (This is why it's hard to cut the oil completely.) Do not let the oil with the chilies smoke or your eyes will be sorry.

5. Add the garlic, ginger and prawns together and stir-fry quickly for 1 to 2 minutes, until prawns turn pink and flesh becomes firm.

6. Add the chili sauce and stir to blend, then add the spring onions and the sauce mixture, and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve.

Originally serves 4, as part of a Chinese meal with several dishes. However, there is only 4 oz shrimp in each recipe serving. 1/3 of the dish is 5.3 oz shrimp, close enough to 6 for me to call 2 protein. (So if you only want 1 protein, eat 1/6 of the dish.) The nutritional data for 1/3 of the dish are approximately as follows, using only 1 tbsp oil:

122 Cal total, of which ~21 are from carbs, ~38 from protein, and ~59 are from fat. I have been counting this as half a fat as well for this reason.

[FitRunner]

Portion approach labels: 2 vegetable for 1/4 of the whole dish.

Ingredients:
700 g (1.5 lb) fresh broccoli
60 ml (1/4 cup) oil (You can cut this to 1 tbsp, but the broccoli won't cook quite as evenly.)
6 slices ginger, finely cut into shreds
1 large or 2 small onions of any color, cut into thin crescents
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry) mixed with 1 tsp water
1 tsp salt (optional IMO)

1. Cut the broccoli florets from the main stem, so that each floret retains its own stalk, like a miniature tree. Use a sharp paring knife to peel the tough skin form the stalks below the florets.

2. Heat the oil and when hot, stir in the broccoli and ginger together and quickly fry for about 1 minute, until the broccoli has turned a darker shade of green. Add the onions and cook 1 more minute.

3. Add the wine and water and immediately cover tightly with a lid, allowing broccoli to steam for 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Remove lid, add salt, and stir to blend. Transfer to a serving dish.

This dish is meant to serve four as part of a meal of several dishes. 1/4 of the dish made with 1 tbsp oil contains approximately

99 Cal, of which ~53g are carbs, ~23g are protein, and ~37 are fat.

[Dave]

Yum...I'm going to the store. You rule. Thanks!!!

[Dave]

Check out the meal Monica put together tonight. Turkey spaghetti sauce without the pasta. Instead, she used broccoli as the base. It was awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYXM8OQZ290

[InnerStrength]

Thank you SO much for posting and taking the time to provide nutritional info as well! I've been playing with my crock pot and will come back (when time allows me to be back on my computer) to share after I enter the info into my SparkPeople to get nutritional info!

I do appreciate the sharing though! Inspirational and exciting! :)

[Dave]

Thank you SO much for posting and taking the time to provide nutritional info as well! I've been playing with my crock pot and will come back (when time allows me to be back on my computer) to share after I enter the info into my SparkPeople to get nutritional info!

I do appreciate the sharing though! Inspirational and exciting! :)

No problem. It's what we do and why we're here.

[FitRunner]

These are not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but these have been one of my favorite treats since I was a kid. These clearly should go in your 10 or 20% of unhealthy foods, but have the advantages of containing natural ingredients you and your body understand (as opposed to hydrogenated palm kernel oil and diglycerides) and making you keenly aware of what exactly went in them, making it harder to pretend they're not so bad and you can eat another batch.

Makes about 10

200 ml oatmeal
50 g slightly softened butter
50 ml sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa (preferably alkali-processed, also known as dutched)
Optionally: More cocoa or shredded coconut for rolling in

Put everything in a bowl and squish it all together. The butter and oatmeal will hold them together. Roll the paste into bite-size balls. If you like, roll the balls in cocoa or shredded coconut to make them easier to handle without getting butter all over your hands when you eat them.

Nutrition information:

The whole batch is 969 Cal and contains 11.4g protein (~46 Cal), 46.4 g fat (~418 Cal), 137.3 g carbohydrates (~549 Cal), and 10.1 g fiber. If you make it into 10 truffles, they're about 97 Cal each, with ~5 cal from protein, ~42 from fat, and ~55 from carbs. Only ~1 g fiber in each one, though!

[Robinana]

Game Day Chili (with ground turkey)

1 lb ground turkey
2 reg size cans diced tomatoes
1 reg size can dark red kidney beans
1 reg size can spicy chili beans
1 large can black beans
1 onion (diced)
4 stalks celery (sliced thin)
1 pkg tex mex chili mix
CROCK POT

Brown ground turkey in frying pan until done. Drain. Add 1 pkg tex mex chili mix and blend well. Put the seasoned turkey in your crock pot set on high. If you'd like, season further with garlic powder and a bit of salt. Add all cans (tomatoes and 2 kinds of beans). While that's cooking, put a bit of oil in your frying pan and fry up your chopped up onion and the chopped celery. Once the onion is clear, add it to the crock pot with the rest of the mixture. Put your crock on high and cook for 3 hours. YUM.

[Dave]

One of my favorite lunch staples is Hummus and Veggies. I go to Trader Joes and get the Mediterranean Hummus and a bag of precut/cleaned/washed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I eat about half of the veggies and hummus and then put it in the fridge and have the second have the next day. Here are the numbers.

Hummus 15 servings per 16 oz tub. I estimate I get about 8 oz down.
Per serving the hummus is:
70 cal
4g fat (0.5 saturated)
6g carbs (1g sugar) - source is primarily garbanzo beans and tahini (ground sunflower seeds)
3g protein

The veggies you just can't beat. There are 4 servings in the 12oz bag, and I do about 2 of them.
Per serving we are talking about:
25
0g fat
5g carbs
2g protein
plus a whopping of vitamins and minerals.

The hummus and veggies cost about $6.50 together, which means I get all this in for $3.25. What's not to love?

I estimate that gives me about 760 calories, 32g of fat (4g saturated), 88g carbs, and 40g of protein. Now if you are following me over at the Primal Blueprint thread, you may be thinking, "way to carb up. That's a nice insulin party you've created for yourself there". Ah, but look at the source. Beans, nuts, and veggies. Loooooow glycemic index chow combined with a nice big dose of micronutrients from the veggies. A satisfying and healthy meal and a great one to eat on days like today where I've got a hardcore workout planned. I'm going to do the UCML workout again, but I'm going to see if I can bookend it with 2 miles on the treadmill. That will give me 6 total miles, 2 of which will be sprints. Probably going to need those carbs, eh?

Dave