Saturday, September 24, 2011

LAZY RECIPE: MEXICAN RICE AND REFRIED BEANS

Easiest protein-rich salad ever, made with leftovers, canned stuff and on-hand things... And even better, it's ALL POWER FOODS! No counting points or messing up for me!

MEXICAN RICE AND REFRIED BEANS:

1/2-1 cup cooked brown rice (leftover from yesterday's stuffed peppers!)
1/2-2/3 cup canned fat-free refried beans
1-2 cups shredded lettuce
1-2 dollops fat-free sour cream 
1 slice fat-free cheese or an ounce shredded fat-free cheese
Seasoning: Chili powder, garlic salt, onion powder, cumin and cilantro
Splash of lime juice, optional (mostly because I set it out and forgot to use it!)

Place beans and rice side by side on a plate or in a medium sized bowl. Leave room for lettuce. Sprinkle both of these with cumin powder and garlic salt. Sprinkle only beans with chili powder and onion powder. Stir beans and mash down. Sprinkle only rice with cilantro. (Not too heavy handed with any of these spices, mind you! Measurements? Silly! Don't you know me better than that?) Cover beans with cheese slice. Microwave for 2-2.5 minutes, or until hot and cheese is melted. 

Splash lime juice on rice and lettuce. 

Pile lettuce on plate or in bowl and add sour cream dollops. 

Dig in! I incorporated lettuce into every bite. Made me feel less naughty. Odd, since every ingredient was a Power Food, and therefore permitted. But it tastes just like the same items in a Mexican restaurant!

Note: If you're making this as a side plate to a meal, you may wanna decrease the amounts. I ate this as a meal. And I ate all of it. With great enjoyment. I'd say my beans portion was double what it should have been, and so was the sour cream. But it was my third meal of the day, dinner if you will. 

Style Note: This could be all artfully arranged and pretty. But I was hungry, and you don't get pictures because it was not pretty. I basically made a fat-free version of the side of rice and beans that comes with fajitas in the local Mexican restaurants. The only thing missing is the pico de gallo. And, as I said, I was hungry, so no fanciness from me this late at night!

NON-RECIPE PROGRESS:

This meal ends a full day without cheating on the diet! No brownies, no Kashi GoLean, no using up non-existent points on fast food, no "Just a bite of this or that", no excuses! It feels good. I think I've only had two days this week that I can truly say this about. I am doing better at making healthier choices, regardless of my frequent faltering. It doesn't hurt that some of my choices are also delicious! 

I bought a digital scale today. If it doesn't cry out in pain and say "one at a time, please", it may work better than the dial-a-scale I've been using. At least it'll be more consistent and precise. I won't be able to adjust my posture and gain or lose pounds with this one! :D 

So, weight loss or no come Monday morning, I've gotten... somewhere. I don't know where yet, but I think it's good for my lifelong change more than my short-term weight loss.

Cuddles,
Tamara

No comments:

Post a Comment