For those of you who don’t know, over the summer we got a healthy vending machine in our office. I know some of you are thinking, is there such a thing? Well, there is, and in the Chicago land area, it’s called Healthy U Vending. It was my idea to get the vending machine, since that was a BIG downfall for me. If I was busy, bored, stressed, whatever, the M & M’s would be calling my name!
That’s how I was feeling yesterday at work. I was feeling a little under the weather and I kept thinking about getting M & M’s from the 7-11 near my office. I actually was heading out when I decided to just take a look and see what other options I had.
In the end, I DIDN’T CAVE!! I got this instead:
So, instead of a king size bag of M & M’s for 500 calories, this bar was only 180 calories, and to go with it, I made:
25 calorie packet of Diet Swiss Hot chocolate mixed with hot coffee! It hit the spot.
How do you get past a craving that will hamper your weight loss efforts??
*********
I’d like to thank Food Buzz for hooking me up with Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. As a Food Buzz taste tester I was sent 3 coupons for 3 of my readers to buy their product for free!
ALSO, Lea & Perrins is hosting a “Shine at Dinnertime” cooking contest. It’s a video recipe challenge, submit a video under 4 minutes using Lea & Perrins and the grand prize winner gets $10,000 + a VIP meeting with celebrity chef Claire Robinson of Food TV! Once the finalists have been picked, then America gets to vote from December 3rd – December 10th. Biz, are you going to enter???
*************
I have a lot to say tonight! I wanted to share the most deluxe stir fry I’ve made in a long time. Local Chicagoans, if you haven’t gone to Caputo’s market, you HAVE to go! Their produce section is the biggest one I’ve seen in any store. Gorgeous fruits and veggies, some I’ve never heard of like UGLI fruit!!!
The UGLI fruit is a hybrid of orange, grapefruit and tangerine. You can peel it like an orange, or slice it in half like a grapefruit. It was really juicy and good! No seeds either! So that’s a new one for me, and I only bought one just in case I didn’t like it, but now I’ll have to go back for more.
OK, back to my stir fry!!!
We had, purple and regular cauliflower, garlic, red onion, pea pods, water chestnuts, carrots, celery and bok choy.
First I cooked a few chicken breasts, cut up in small pieces, until just about done, then set that aside. I also cooked a big pot of brown rice (start that part early because it takes 45 minutes to cook).
Add the veggies and cook for about 5 minutes or until desired tenderness. Add back the chicken and serve over rice with your favorite stir fry sauce. I used House of Tsang brand peanut sauce.
*****
3 lucky readers who leave a comment will get a chance to receive a coupon for Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.
Oh Caputo’s is one of my favorite markets!!! Their mozzarella is to die for!
Have never seen or heard of the UGLI fruit, but that’s really cool! I need to start scouring my produce section for some Friday First inspiration. it’s crazy to think there’s still so many fruits and veggies I’ve never even heard of.
A healthy vending machine is genius! Wish we had one!
How very cool that the vending machine YOU lobbied for saved your bacon today – I love it!!!
I had no idea that an UGLI fruit was comprised of good citrus…I’ll have to try one now. I’ve seen them, but the name alone turned me off. The way you described it sounds good…they need you for their marketing person, lol!
Your stir fry is a colorful masterpiece!
Your stirfry looks beautiful.
It’s easy for me to avoid the vending machine at my office:
1. It’s 3 floors down from where I sit
2. Last winter, a mouse got into it and people were buying candy and chips that the mouse had been munching on. Ewwww!
We need a healthy vending machine here! The choices are AWFUL!
Healthy vending machine? Sweet!
Looks delish!
We need a healthy vending machine at my work!! And I’d so love to find and try and Ugli fruit!!! FUN!!!