I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately with school so I'll compensate but posting a delicious recipe! Alright readers, I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm not born skinny like those other lil scrawny girls that can eat five Big Macs and stay a size zero. In fact, I had to work my butt off (it never did come off though) to get this way. I was actually quite unhealthy and I started dieting hardcore through puberty (which you definitely should not do). I was pretty toned until I stopped eating healthy and working out in my late teens. I was in love and as all love birds do, I ate everything in sight and gained a significant amount of weight. Now that I'm going past my teenager years, I'm starting to work out and eat healthy again. Its nice to see all those extra pounds shed right off! I don't like to use the word diet because diet implies that there is a start and an end whereas you should always find time to eat healthy and exercise.
It was incredibly hard to find a good balance between exercise and food as I did not want to over compensate delicious food for some stale crackers. So here I'm going to share with you a super quick and easy recipe that I make and keep in storage for those days when I'm super tempted to eat some fatty ramen. You can put this in the fridge and store it since its served cold :)
So for the sauce here are the ingredients:
- Olive Oil ( 2 tbs)
- Light Soy Sauce (2 1/2 tbs)
- Black Vinegar (1 tbs)
- White Vinegar (1/4 tsp)
- Chili Oil (1/2 tsp)
- Sesame Oil (3/4 tsp)
- Brown Sugar (2 small packets)
- and Sriracha!!!!!!! (2 1/2 tsp or 3-4 large squirts)
(You also need garlic cilantro, lemon, lime, and ginger)
You can skimp out on the white vinegar, chili oil, and the lemon or the lime (one or the other you cant miss both!) if you don't have those ingredients but everything else in this recipe is essential (especially the sugar which balances out the acidity)
Some fresh ingredients we'll be chopping up
- Cherry Tomatoes & Bell Pepper
- (You can substitute this with whatever raw veggie you like)
- Lemon & Lime (one and a half)
- Ginger (around 2-3 table spoons)
- Cilantro
- and Garlic (3 cloves)
Don't forget the pasta! I use whole wheat pasta because the texture of it is delicious for this recipe. Plus its filled with fiber
So step one, boil your pasta to a little past al dente and drain. Set it aside till we are done.
Chop all your ingredients so they are nice and pretty!
Grate the ginger. I like to also zest the lime/lemon because I might as well use all the lemon up. Plus it smells better.
So now you dump all the ingerdients except for the bell pepper and cherry tomatoes in a bowl. You dont need to dump the in a particular order but I find that if you let the lemon/lime zest, cilantro, ginger, and garlic sit in the olive oil for a five to ten minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients in, its more flavorful.
Now arrange your cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and whatever else you want to put on it and its done! This recipe is really good with some shrimp or chicken but I don't like eating too much meat nowadays. I usually keep the pasta and the sauce in seperate bowls in the fridge until Im ready to eat. One word of advice though -- NEVER REFRIGERATE YOUR TOMATOES. They get all mealy and taste less fresh. You might not notice it but I'm a tomato fanatic so it really bothers me >:
Stay tuned for an upcoming giveaway!
Until Next Time,
Mint
