sushi

I’ve mentioned it before, but growing up the only ethnic cuisine I was really exposed to was Chinese food. I wasn’t sheltered, we just lived in a small town and there weren’t many restaurants to choose from. Since moving to an area where ethnic food is prevalent I’ve become a lover of all different types of international foods and have totally made up for my limited exposure as a child.

For example, last night I had Thai food for dinner and today I had sushi for lunch and an Indian inspired meal for dinner!

My niece and two of her friends came down for a visit last night and we went out for Thai food. This was an easy choice because there are three Thai restaurants within walking distance from my house. I’ve been to two of the three so I decided to take them to the one I had yet to try, Thai Diner Too.

To start I ordered the vegetarian fresh spring rolls.

Surprisingly they were wrapped in a flour wrap rather than the rice paper I’m used to with fresh spring rolls.

They were interesting, but I have to admit, I like the traditional rice paper wrapped spring rolls with peanut sauce much better.

For my entree I ordered the Thai Diner Delight with shrimp. It included broccoli, peas, carrots and baby corn in light brown sauce and was pretty tasty.

I’d order it again!

To be honest, the company at dinner was the best part. Isaac was out of town until today so hanging out with my niece and her friends for the evening was a blast. After dinner we hopped over to Sweet Frog for fro yo and I got my favorite combo of tart and peanut butter with lots of fresh fruit on top. YUM! Post dinner and dessert I went home and crashed while the girls went out to a club – I feel like such an old lady now.

Apparently this week is support local restaurants week because I asked Isaac if he would make me lunch today and this is what I got…

Sushi take out! He ordered a spicy tuna roll and a california roll from a local shop and we split the order for lunch.

Since we were sharing the sush (what Isaac and I call sushi) I prepped a nice little salad to go along with it. I even included edamame to make it fit with the Japanese theme.

For dinner tonight, I got inspired by a recipe from the Eat-Clean Diet Stripped and made a cauliflower and tempeh dish with Indian spices. Besides making a mess when chopping the cauliflower, the recipe was super easy to put together and I loved the curry flavor. It definitely reminded me of my favorite Cracklin’ Cauliflower recipe – this one is just missing the peas!

Curried Cauliflower with Tempeh

Inspired by Smack Your Lips Spiced Cauliflower and Tofu

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 8 oz tempeh, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (Lightlife’s Three Grain is my fav)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup reduced sodium vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until starting to brown, about three minutes. Stir in cauliflower, tempeh, raisins, spices, salt, pepper, vegetable broth and bay leaf.
2. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer until cauliflower is starting to become tender, about fifteen minutes. Uncover and continue to cook until broth reduces by half, about five minutes.
3. Remove from heat and remove bay leaf. Garish with fresh basil and serve with a whole grain like brown rice or quinoa.

I enjoyed this dish warm and loved it. Isaac came home later and had it cold and said it was tasty that way as well. I’m already excited for leftovers tomorrow because curried dishes always taste better after having time for the flavors “marinate”.

In other news, I’ve been trying to stick with a new goal of not eating 2-3 hours before bed. I did well while Isaac was out of town but tonight I gave in to the temptation of crackers and hummus that Isaac was eating when he got home late from Frisbee practice. After trying the hummus with a few crackers I decided I wanted to eat a make them sweet and more “dessert like” so I put almond butter on a few (probably around 8-10). I ended up eating the crackers and then ate a small bowl of cereal as well. I know it’s not the end of the world but I still feel annoyed because I wasn’t hungry! I was just eating because it was there AND the real issue is that I didn’t stop with the crackers, I went ahead and ate cereal too.

Oh well, I’m not sure why I felt the need to get that off my chest but sometimes I think it seems like I eat 100% healthy all the time. I’m definitely not perfect and I still struggle with portion control and eating out of convenience or boredom instead of hunger. Tonight’s a good example of that.

Tomorrow is new day and I’m ready to start it off with a early morning workout and healthy breakfast. Back on track…

Question for you – What’s your favorite ethnic food? All my favorites were featured in this post – Thai, Japanese and Indian. What do you do when you slip up with your healthy eating goals?

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