Making Boxed Stuff Better

I admit it: sometimes I use boxed mixes. Some of you may have observed the shitstorm that came down on OH (and here, actually) when I mentioned using canned pumpkin instead of oil and stuff in cake mix (dear God, you'd think I held those people down and forced the evil cake mix down their throats...)

Well, here's something slightly better than that, at least. I love Dr. Oetker Organics Muffin Mix. Oatmeal muffin mix, to be precise. It's definitely not low-carb, but also not terribly unhealthy - the ingredient list reads like, well, a recipe (rather than a science experiment) and the mix is made with whole-wheat flour. (as an aside, I'm reading this and thinking, goddamn, I should really make these from scratch if this really is all this $4 mix is!)

So, usually I make them as-is. At 150 cal per muffin, it's not bad. But today, I had a flash of inspiration (as well as a ton of extra Fage in the fridge) and I tossed in a cup of that plus three drops of EZ-Sweetz. Yum! Bonus: added protein! Bonus bonus: It made 18 muffins instead of 12, cutting calories to just over 100 (108, to be precise) per muffin. Each muffin also has 3 grams of protein, a little under 1 gram of fat, and about 22 grams of carbs, most of which are whole-grain. Not too shabby!

Fried Rice

I made some fried rice the other day...so good! It's also very inexpensive to make and healthy. It isn't low-carb, but, because it's made with brown rice, it has no processed carbs. It's a great once-a-week-cooking recipe because it's even better as leftovers!

The other day I made it plain (no meat) and served it with teriyaki marinated broiled flank steak on the side. Today I'm going to make it with chicken in it. You could toss in whatever veggies/meat you like, but here's my basic recipe:

cooking spray
1 egg (if I were to double or triple this recipe, I'd use 1 whole egg and the rest would be egg whites)
1 T canola oil
1 t sesame oil
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup frozen peas/carrots mix (defrosted)
soy sauce (to taste)

Spray a medium-size skillet (or wok) with cooking spray and scramble the egg until barely cooked. Set aside. Add the oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add the rice and vegetables and stir-fry until hot. Add egg back to wok and stir-fry together briefly, then add soy sauce and stir-fry until rice is dry. Serve hot, or warm, or cold, or reheated... :) Makes 4 sleeve friendly servings.