Orange, rockets and raisin salad with orange vinaigrette

I can't recall where I got this recipe from either, again will update post with link once I find it.

Ingredients

1/4 cup juice of an orange
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon-style prepared mustard
2 tbsp honey
1/8 tspn cracked black pepper

Directions

1. Add all ingredients into a glass jar, screw lid on tight and shake til ingredients are well mixed
2. Servce with salad

My Changes

I realised after buying the vinegar that it has wine.
So I put regular white vinegar but not as much as the recipe required (worried the taste will change too much).


I should have put in toasted walnuts (oil in pan, toast walnust but not too long, crush it or leave as is).
But the walnuts costs RM25 so I'll ask Bonda to get when she next goes to the groceries. I added raisins instead to give it a sweeter flavour.

Results

Nice mix - bitter salad, sweet and tangy orange, sweet raisins.
Next time, must also make sure no pulp in vinaigrette, just the juice.
Didn't really measure the pepper, but 3 turns of the thingie was all I put inside.
Initially the vinegar taste was strong, so I added in just a bit more honey (less than 1 tspn).
After leaving it for a while, the tastes mixed well and the vinegar  taste wasn't all that powerful.

Grilled Chicken with BBQ sauce and honey

I tried this yums recipe today, but can't recall where I got the recipe from! Sorry!!
Once I can find the link in my history, I'll update this post to include the link.

Ingredients

4 chicken breast fillets
1/3 cup barbeque sauce
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves crushed
2 tspn fresh ginger, grated

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, add in fillets and coat well with marinate.
2. Cover and leave to marinate for 3 hours or overnight.
3. Oil grill pan then fry 5 minutes each side (longer if using larger breasts).
4. Brush occasionally with marinade while grilling

My Changes

Used drumsticks instead of breast fillets.

Future changes

Will add bit more honey and bbq sauce.
The ginger taste was strongest but not overly strong.
Probably cuz I went and squeezed out the juice into the marinate first before putting the ginger in.

Result

Yuuuuummmmsss!!!
Bunny says tastes nice; Bonda said chicken wasn't fully cooked...hee hee.
The marinate became sticky while grilling, so I just made sure to scrape off the ones on the griller so that it didn't get smoky.
I basted enough but next time maybe more often...?
As mentioned, the strongest ingredient I can taste was the ginger, not so much the BBQ sauce or honey but that's good too, cuz don't really want it overly sweet and tangy.

Served it chicken with rockets, oranges and raisins with orange vinagrette (recipe in next post).
It was quite nice, I think cuz the vinaigrette was not sweet and the vinegar taste wasn't overpowering.
The rockets didn't taste overly bitter cuz of the vinaigrette and oranges (tangy) and raisins (sweet).

There's some add marinate so I'm adding those extra tspb/tbsp of BBQ sauce and honey and will marinate other chicken for grilling tomorrow, see how the taste differs.

Orange Sesame Teriyaki Tofu Recipe

This is what I'm having tonite.
Recipe is from grouprecipes.com

Ingredients

1 lb extra-firm tofu, pressed

1/2 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
4 tbsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Cut the tofu in half lengthwise and arrange in a baking dish.
2. Combine all ingredients except for the sesame seeds in a mixing bowl and whisk to mix. Pour the marinade over the tofu slices. Let marinade for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.
3. Heat BBQ grill to high. Meanwhile strain marinade into a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer until syrupy 5-10 minutes. Set aside the glaze.
4. Grill Tofu until hot, browned and sizzling, 4-6 minutes a side. Rotate the tofu 45 degrees after 2-3 minutes for crosshatch grill marks. Baste the tofu couple of times per a side with the glaze as it cooks.
5. Slice the tofu steaks into thin strips and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

My changes

I bought teriyaki sauce sometime back, so instead of the soy sauce + sugar, I used the teriyaki sauce instead (same amount).
I used 1 orange, which produced a little more than 1/4 cup of juice, too little to matter.
My tofu is about 1 lb, since I had some leftover from before.
My tofu is also not the hard kind - which is meant for grilling.
I've never cooked tofu before, so didn't know there were different types for different types of cooking.

I had tomato before that with feta cheese in herbed olive oil.

I left it to marinate for about 1 1/2 hours, which means grilling was around 8.15pm
This is not good, since I should be having my last meal of the day by 8pm
I used a bit of olive oil on the griller

Results

Mind you, I haven't cooked for myself since I was in Aussie, so that was a really long time ago.

Tasting the different tastes (spicy, sweet, salty) etc and all that is still new to me.
Even when I was in Aussie I cooked based on my mom's recipe and didn't change it to suit my taste.
I had to give it a few tryies, checking the heat and things like that, how long for each side.
There were some burnt bits, hee hee, but i just removed the layer and basted the clean tofu underneath.

Its ok, not bad. I can still taste the tofu-ness, but not so strong. I'm getting used to that tofu taste anyway (was not big on tofu pre-PCOS), so I'll let that go.
The teriyaki sauce wasn't that sweet, which is great cuz sometimes it can get a little too sweet.
When making the glaze, should have left it on for a bit longer so it'd be a bit more syrupy, maybe that wud have been better and should have glazed one side before putting it on the grill first.

Extra bits

I used a juice maker to get the orange juice because its easier.
The skin from that is in water now. Soon will be drained and then used to make orangy smelling squirts.
Dono if this is actually a good thing..hee hee...

Food for the soul

Due to Reductil, my body has learned to eat less (again), which is good.
Due to I don't know what, I now have to eat every 4 hours.
So basically, lots of small meals in a day - like half a sandwich now half a sandwich later.
What I need to learn is to eat breakfast soon after waking up.

Johanna, my naturopathic practitioner, wants me to go for a blood test - 18KS, which would let me know how my liver is doing, kidneys and whether I may have diabetes.
My test can only be done after the 25th, cuz that's when my limit resets, sad but true.

I've also changed what I eat quite a bit.
Gone are the fried kuey teows (sniff sniff), fried mee, fried everything, burgers from fast food (not that I had so much of that before, though) and all the sweet sweet snacks I love to love.

I crave the occassional sweet stuff, which according to Johanna is normal for ppl with glucose issues.
So I have half a bannofee pie now and the other half later or the following day.
I always take away food cuz I can never finish the portion at restaurants.

I eat more veggies and more fruits.
I'm eating tofu (which is actually pretty nice), staying away from white pasta and white bread, creamy stuff and all that unhealthy stuff.

Today, I had me 1 litre of water (I slept at 6am and woke up at 1pm , so that's a good amt for the day so far I guess).
Tonite, I am having tofu - recipe will be in another post.

For my plain water, I add honey to it. Not the regular honey you get from stores.
I guess if I were to describe it, it would be organic or un-factory processed.
Its not as sweet or erm...strong. It has a really light taste and quite nice (I don't really like honey).

Every morning, I'm to drink juice from 1/4 of lemon with warm or room temp water (for my liver).
I eat salad more and should be before my meal (so makes me full and I actually would not have that much meal following).
I'm cutting down my coffee intake to one a day.

So far so good, none of the symptoms have come back, but who knows!
Its only been less than a month. Oh gosh I worry!

wow...i guess its been awhile

yes. the title and date says it all.
I haven't been updating my other blog either. hee hee


Anyway, Now its Feb 10 and I've been managing my PCOS for 6 months now.
My last appointment with Dr Y was supposed to be early Feb, but she had to cancel.
We moved it a few days later, but I cancelled and postponed to a few after that.
I cancelled that one too...hmmm...maybe my instincts was telling me something?


anyway, since that time, I have lost a total of 3kg, 1.5kg within the 1st month, another 1.5kg within the 2nd month.
In terms of measurements, I lost 4.5" overall the 1st month, 1.5" off my waist alone. I hadn't noted down my measurements lost during the 2nd month, so I can't say.


Apparently this is good, cuz now my BMI would be at the ideal range.
My food intake has certainly decreased, yet I rather think the loss is mostly because I was a reluctant bullimic with all that vomiting.


In Jan 10, I measured myself and noted I've lost a total of 5" off my waist, 1" off my hips and an unfortunate 2.5" off my bust (mostly the back fat yucks! but a bit off the front too sniff sniff)

Oddly, I still wear the same bra size tho.
As for weight, I think I'm down to 57, but its difficult to say since the machine I first used to weight myself is not the machine at home and when I weighed myself at her clinic, it showed 1kg higher than at home. Maybe its the jeans....? ahaks!


Recently, my sister (Bunnie) has been urging me to stop taking Reductil. At this point, Dr Y has changed my dosage to 3 times a week as opposed to every other day as prescribed before.
Reasons why she said I should stop:

• Difficulty in sleeping (insomnia)
• Disturbances of the gut such as diarrhoea, constipation, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain
• Headache
• Pins and needles (paraesthesia)
• Lightheadedness
• Anxiety
• Sweating
• Alteration in taste
• Aggravation of haemorrhoids
• Hot flushes
• Awareness of your heartbeat (palpitations)
• Increased heart rate (tachycardia)
• Raised blood pressure (hypertension)
• Depression
• Menstrual cycle disorders
• Impotence
• Seizures
• Decrease in the number of platelets in the blood (thrombocytopenia)
• Kidney disorders

Well! isn't it a shame some of those things I could be having due to PCOS and some I have due to (possible hypoglycemia), also from taking Diane-35. Seriously, wonder if I'm happy knowing now, after 5 months of using (wasn't a very good meds taker that 6th month) or not..cuz at leats I lost 3kg and that many inches. 

Currently, I'm seeing a naturopathic practitioner, Johanna, whose office is really close to home (yeay!)
She's very nice, young and is very patient and compassionate (1st impression).
My goal now is to manage my diet and take supplements rather than take medicine to manage/lose weight and manage the hormones.
So she's put me on Low GI (Glycemic Index) food.
What I like about Johanna is that she has given me a list (4 pages long) right off the bat on what to eat, what a meal should look like, what, what food is low in GI and GL.
She also sent me an e-mail with a treatment plan.


What I like about Johanna, aside from her personality, is that she really listens.
She asked me SO many questions (our consultantion lasted 2 hours) about my medical history that no other doctors have bothered to do.
She gave me a list (on paper) and made a treatment plan and told me what it was, rather than just verbalising it and expecting me to remember or google things up (which can be further confusing cuz many ppl say many different things).
She didn't pressure me into buying her supplements or getting any products from her directly and was considerate about my lack of funds.
I have to give credit to Dr Y in that she always charged me the min in consulation fees (she too knew I didn't have cash) and always advised me to get the meds outside (half the price). Dr Y was also very friendly, but I like this more personal approach with Johanna.


I need to make it clear that a naturopathic practitioners are not doctors. They may have a degree in naturopath (ie learn about body, supplements herbs etc) but they do not have a medical degree.


My appointment with Johanna was on the 9th of Feb and I have really changed my diet since meeting with her.
Partly was because of her approach and the way she managed me (yes, I have always been a bit picky with how and whom gives advice..hee hee). Partly because I just want this change.


So far so good. More info in a few days..