Rotisserie Chicken and Tom Yum Soup

The Rotisserie Chicken is found here:http://www.recipezaar.com/152116

The Tom Yum Soup here:http://www.bigoven.com/26201-Tom-Yum-Soup-recipe.html

Snacks and Dishes from this Week

Sliced Carrots with Hummus Dip
BabyBell Low-fat Cheese with Walnuts
Minted Sweet Peas
Scrambled Eggs with Tuna

3 Dishes included in my Diet

Chicken on a Bed of Veggies
Herbed Sauteed Chicken
Fattoush Salad

Images taken by phone, sorry if its not clear!

Vegetable Soup

I know I have not updated in a while, its only because I don't have any new recipes that Ive made over the last few days! I have been eating dishes that can be found within my blog in the soups and salads section.

To be honest, I'm so drained of energy from the Gym and College...Not to mention the Cats and their need for affection 24 hrs a day, oh yeah, AND my husband...lol...Phew! My coffee no longer works as effectively as it should to wake me up. On top of all this I haven't lost anymore weight, but I know its too early to tell, but i still wish i could have lost a teeny bit more from all that running and climbing on the StairMaster and Treadmill! On top of all that "something" is wrong with my stomach. The Doctor says theres nothing wrong, but I keep getting this nauseous burning feeling and bloating in the middle of my stomach. It comes and goes in waves...I don't know what to do now that my Dr says it nothing! Drinking laban or eating yogurt seems to help, but that's not a solution.All I want to eat is cereal and milky stuff because of it, and that makes my blog suffer too!...I just hope it goes away!


I made Vegetable Soup 2 days ago for dinner but did not take pictures, so below you'll find a link to a similar recipe to the one I made. Try it out! Its delicious!

http://www.myhomecooking.net/soup-recipes/vegetable-soup-recipe.htm



And.....Here is the cereal I eat for breakfast and sometimes dinner too. It doesnt need anything added to it but milk, unlike cornflakes that I always have to sweeten myself. It is VERY good!
http://www.kashi.com/products/organic_promise_cereal_strawberry_fields

Sultana's Beef and Bean Soup

This soup is perfect for a quick lunch or dinner dish by itself or with some cornbread, shredded cheese and sour cream or just add noodles to it!

It is VERY versatile, you could add spices to it, thicken it like a chili, add any other ingredients you'd like with it, for example veggies or noodles,etc...

Sultana's Beef and Bean Soup

1/2 kilo beef/lamb mince

2 400g cans of diced/stewed/whole tomatoes

2 400g cans of ANY beans you like (I've used butter beans)

1 lrg yellow onion sliced thin

2 tsp OR as much diced garlic as you like

600ml chicken stock

1/2 cup diced fresh parsley

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs Tabasco sauce

Brown the meat and then add to it the onion and garlic, cook for 5 more minutes then add tomatoes, cook for 5 more minutes, then add stock, sauces, boil softly, covered, for 20 minutes, uncover and add parsley and beans, cook on a soft boil for 5 more minutes then take off heat. Taste for salt and add more Tabasco sauce for a spicier taste.

Enjoy!

Diet Diary

My Diet Diary over the last few days

Kilos lost-2!
Total hours spent in Gym-8
Number of times my toes went dumb from the Ski machine-4
Time spent "running" on the treadmill in one session-5 minutes
Time spent on the treadmill in one session- 2o-30 minutes
Amount of time it took before i thought about giving up- 3 minutes
Total amount of time since the Diet started- 7 days


Over this week I have eaten is various Soups and Veggie salad, Orange juice,Water,Coffee,Yellow cheese and cornflakes, and halloumi with bell peppers. THAT'S IT...

I can honestly say I have given "my all" in the Gym this week...I'm doing treadmill,2 different "ski machines", bicycle, crunches with and w/out machines help, 3 different leg machines, arm and chest weights, and leg exercises w/out machine. I spend 2 hours a day in the gym 5 days a week...I have lost 2 kilos in 7 days... I know its probably water, but hey, its 2 kilos!

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If anyone else out there is going through the same thing as me, all i can say is:

-When you think you cant give more to an exercise, add one more minute to your exercise.

-PUSH YOURSELF.

-Look at your weight loss weekly, not monthly. Set a 5 kilos weekly weight loss MAX work your butt off for that 5 kilo goal!

Sultana's Palate is going on a Diet

YES! A Diet!

Not the kind of diet where all you eat is chocolate shakes or crackers, but "a good food" diet.

I have a diet plan based "a little bit" on the South beach diet, but basically just good instinct on what works for me.

Below you'll find the diet plan and above 2 meals that Ive had since starting.

The Tuna and Egg is simply Tuna in a can fried in its own oil with a diced tomato and a tsp of cumin powder and a pinch of red pepper flakes and fresh coriander(optional). After the tuna, just throw some beat eggs into the same pan and till scrambled. Eat this with pita bread and fresh sliced tomato or alone if you like.

The salad recipe is simply:
1 bell pepper diced
1 tomato diced(take out seeds)
1 cucumber sliced in four length ways and diced
1/2 yellow onion diced
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup diced fresh coriander
1 can of chick peas

Mix all together and eat alone or with some low fat soft salty white cheese sprinkled on top.


These two dishes are fast easy and filling!




The Diet Plan

*i am in no way qualified to give nutritional advice to anyone! I eat and do what I think is best for me and what Ive found works for me. If you are looking for a nutritionsit please find a qualified one!

Breakfast:

*Drinks: Coffee, green tea, low fat milk, normal tea and milk, juices (no sugar added) *Foods: Oatmeal, cornflakes, eggs and spinach, egg omelet with tomatoes, or Fool (cooked, smashed fava beans)with Arabic bread and homemade orange juice.

You can use store bought juice but make sure the ingredients says “NO SUGAR ADDED.”

Lunch:

Salad First! Then, Soup (based with tomato or broth) or Vegetables, Then meat or fish dish.
DRINK ONE GLASS OF WATER!

*Salad: Arabic salad, Fattoush, any salad you like but NOT a lot of dressing with cream or mayonnaise in it. Use apple cider vinegar and olive oil and Italian salad dressings more, also, hummus works as a delicious topping on Arabic salad! You can also make only a salad as your lunch with cut chicken in it or tuna too (protein in meat is important for lunch), serve it with a bowl of soup. You can also have Waraq Ainab(grape leaves stuffed).

*Soups: vegetable soup, spicy tom yum soup, chicken soup, cabbage soup, no cream based soups!

*Vegetables: Any veggies you like cooked in a healthy way!

*Meat: Tuna Fish, Salmon Fish, Chicken breasts without skin, Beef or Lamb without a lot of fat (called LEAN meat), shrimp. NO processed meats like hot dog, frozen kebab in packets… Cook your meat by grilling or baking or gently frying in olive oil or boiling in water or sauce.

Do not fry your meat in yellow oil or butter! You can use olive oil to fry it gently. No Deep frying food.

Snacks:
“3 cow” cheese slices, cucumber sliced thin with low fat white cheese wrapped inside, tomatoes with halloumi cheese and sautéed bell pepper slices, nuts of your choice(not a lot) Fresh fruits like grapefruit, watermelon, oranges, apples, cherries, and many others and you can eat with a bit of natural honey if you like. Carrots dipped in hummus.

Don’t eat a lot of bananas, pears, peaches, mangos, fruit with lots of sugars, dates with syrup in it.



Dinner:

Dinner should be lighter than lunch. Try to avoid eating after 8 pm. If you feel hungry after dinner then drink a glass of water then wait 10 minutes, if you’re still hungry you can have any of the foods listed under “Snacks”.
Drink one glass of water!

Soup: as above.
Salad: as above.
Meat: as above
Vegetable: as above.


Extra Stuff:

To clean out your body from “the bad stuff” and give weight loss a jump start you can:

-Drink 1 tsp of honey mixed with a glass of warm water in the morning after breakfast

-Drink a glass of warm water mixed with 1 tsp honey and 1 tsp lemon juice also after breakfast

The Votes are In!

So it seems that people actually DO read my blog!

Thanks so much to all of you who voted. The votes show that most people who come to my site come to read my blog weekly, at least. This really makes me happy! I never thought when I started this blog that I would have any views over 500, but since August I have had over 1,500 views! WOW..... It so great to know that I am inspiring, helping, and entertaining at least!

I am still really new to this whole blogging thing and I cant expect to be near as good as alot of the people under my Inspirational Blogs list. I do know that with YOUR viewing of this blog and all of your precious daily comments and sharing your lives and kitchens with me you are motivating me to continue, because, I feel like I have made some really good "Internet" friends here that have really influenced my perception of "Internet" friendships. I could easily jump on a plane and go to each one of them for a visit without thinking twice! That's how genuine, warm and friendly some of the people Ive met here are!

Thanks again, to EVERYONE who reads my blog for making it what it is, because without YOU Sultana's Palate wouldn't exist!

Madhrooba finally!

"LOOMI" above, is dried lime


This is for all fo you who have emailed me or asked me about Madhrooba. I never expected to get such an interest in this dish as i did! I decided it was time to make it finally and to be honest, i missed eating this dish so much, it is one of my all time favorites. Its really great though and i do hope some of you try this recipe if you can and let me know what you think about it.

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A Note: normally we drizzle "samen" clarified butter over it, but of course i didn't have any! The samen gives it a taste that is very distinctive, in fact, anything that has been cooked with or prepared with samen has a certain taste and smell that you know samen was used! Its VERY addictive, but also unhealthy too :(

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This version of "Madhrooba" is actually a recipe I tried from UAEKittens Hungry? section of her website, its a different way from the Authentic Madhrooba which uses wheat, not rice as this recipe does, BUT, it is equally delicious! If you want to experiment and you have the time to do so I would say make the original recipe, but if you just want an easy tasty one Try the rice one from:

UAEKittens Hungry? Page...

Here: http://www.uaekitten.com/goodies/hungry/madhroba.html

You can also find at Fahad.com a Fish recipe for Madhrooba here:http://www.fahad.com/Dishes/Fish/math.html

The Authentic Recipe is as follows:

2 cups wheat seeds

1500g chicken

12 cups water

1 kg tomatoes

6 med size onions

4 garlic cloves grated

1 tsp minced fresh ginger

1 1/2 cup mixture of chopped fresh coriander and dill

2 med size hot peppers

5 cups white beet leaves chopped

2 celery stalks chopped into small pieces

5 tbs tomato sauce

2 tbs salt

1 big tbs bezar/baharat

1 level tbs turmeric powder

1 level tbs cinnamon powder

1/2 tbs cardamom powder

1/2 cup veggie oil

preparation:

The day before, wash wheat and set aside in water to soak overnight.

The next day, wash chicken and put into pot of boiling 12 cups of water, skimming off scum. Meanwhile in another pot, Put tomatoes,onions,garlic,ginger,coriander and dill mix,celery,green pepper,and beet leaves, sprinkle with salt and pepper,bezar/baharat, turmeric,cinnamon,cardamom. Turn a little then add to chicken while boiling, then add veggie oil and tomato sauce. Cover and simmer on heat for one hour.

Remove from heat, if you used chicken with "bone in" then take out bones and throw away, then add soaked wheat to the chicken mix. Put pot back on heat and cover, cook for one hour, but stir it from time to time.

After one hour put pot onto low low heat and if you have one you should use the "metal circle heat barrier thingy" between the pot and burner, if not, then put the pot on the lowest heat you have! Keep like this till the wheat is fully tender. Then take off heat.

Okay, here's where you can be an "oldie" or a "modern chick".

To be an "oldie" get a BIG wooden spoon and beat the "bajeebers" out of whats inside the pot until smooth.

If your a "modern chick" and not into all that drama, then just get a really good electric hand held blender stick it in the pot and press "on", blend until smooth a bit like my last pic above.

To serve, spread a thinnish layer of Madhrooba on a wide plate, drizzle the Samen(clarified butter/ghee) over it and serve hot .

ENJOY :)

Shrimp Scampi

This was a delicious, easy, and fast dish!

We had the Scampi with parmesan cheese sprinkled over it.

The only substitutions I made were to use normal spaghetti instead of capellini, and Balsamic Vinegar instead of White wine, since as a Muslim, I dont drink alcohol.

The recipe can be found here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/234258