Stir “Fried” Salad?

Dinner tonight started as one thing and ended up being something else when I saw how few calories it had. My initial thought was to make lettuce wraps filled with the mushrooms, bell pepper and onions, but since I wasn’t in the mood to make two dishes I added some things to it and ended up with a salad. Rice was included for calories and bulk. Nori was included because I don’t think there is such a thing as too many sea vegetables. We can all use the trace minerals they contain. Edamame added calories and protein. Here is what I did:

Stir “Fried” Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 cup shitakes, stems removed caps sliced
1 bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced
¼ cup yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons liquid aminos
1 cup japonica rice
2 cups water
2 heads romaine hearts, shredded
2 tablespoons mirin
1 cup edamame, shelled
1 sheet nori, thinly sliced

Directions:

Marinate veggies buy combining the shitake caps, red bell pepper and onions with the liquid aminos. Toss to coat and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Now spread the veggies on a single layer using two teflex sheets and dehydrate for approximately 2 hours at 105 degrees to soften the vegetables.

Make rice by combining rice and water and bringing to a boil. Now cover and reduce to a simmer and cook until the water is absorbed. I use an enamel cast iron pan and the rice was ready in 35 minutes though the package indicated 50 minutes cooking time. The pan seems to make a big difference in the time required.

Toss the shredded romaine with mirin and top with rice, veggies, edamame and nori strips.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 316.31
Calories From Fat (12%) - 36.88

Total Fat - 4.56g
Saturated Fat - 0.67g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 518.28mg
Potassium - 1333.91mg
Total Carbohydrates - 61.17g
Fiber - 13.28g
Sugar - 8.36g
Protein - 13.82g

Comments:

This was a great late night dinner. Dan was late again last night because he is swamped at work. When he got home we watched a movie together while we had this salad. We both enjoyed the salad and thought it was very clean and tasty. I liked the salty bits of dehydrated veggies and the acidity from the mirin. This will definitely be something that I will make again. As usual I made leftovers so that Dan and I had lunch for today.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 19,000IU of vitamin A, 120mg of vitamin C, 150mg of calcium, 5mg of iron, 590mcg of folate, 330mcg of vitamin K, 380mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium, and 13mcg of selenium.

Unrelated note:

Last night Dan and I watched video from Netflix called “Food Matters”. It was an interesting documentary that discussed the benefits of eating real food in terms of health. There were a few items that made me wince, like when it was mentioned that cooked food is toxic. *shakes head* But overall it was a good video and one worth watching if you are interested in nutrition.

Yesterday I made a batch of large lima beans since we finished the chili we had been using for taco salad. Cooked beans are something that I keep on hand. Since I don’t buy canned beans it means I end up cooking beans every few days. Now I have 6 cups of cooked beans in the refrigerator. As soon as I figure out what I am going to do with them I will share that with you.

Today is going to be another scorcher for us. According to the weather channel we may reach 100 today. When we got up this morning it was already 83 degrees so Dan exercised inside this morning while I made his lunch, fresh juice and breakfast. Apparently I didn’t sleep well last night which meant my exercise didn’t happen until almost 10am. On a related exercise note Dan ordered us some adjusted dumbbells. I am very excited for those to arrive. The ones he ordered can be adjusted from 2.5 to 52.5 pounds. I love new exercise clothes and equipment so this feels like Christmas to me. Once they arrive and we have a chance to use them I will let you know how easy they are to adjust.

For now I want to finish reading a nutrition book, catch up on my on-line nutrition reading, do a little cleaning and spend some time in the kitchen. After that I will be back.