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lunch »

• Teriyaki Salmon ·
• "Beef" Broccoli ·
• Assi Sac Sac Grape drink ·

salmon and vegetarian beef broccoli Today's lunch included leftover Teriyaki Salmon and "Beef" Broccoli. Sounds complicated? Not at all! My secret is that I didn't make them from scratch. The salmon was from Costco, and already came marinated in a teriyaki sauce. All that I did was the preparation (under 5 mins), then broil, bake, flip, broil (25 mins). Convenience has a cost though: $6.50 for about a pound of fish. It's pricy compared to fresh salmon, but it sure beats eating out and ordering out.

As for the "Beef" Broccoli, it was mostly from scratch. I substituted white mushrooms for the beef, then cooked it to order with the broccoli and onions. Sadly, the seasoning was from one of those store-bought packets (Dynasty brand Beef Broccoli mix). I know that it's a cop-out, but try as I might, my dishes don't taste quite right when I try to flavor with only base ingredients. The "beef" broccoli (or "mushroom and broccoli with beef broccoli seasoning") tasted fine, so I'm happy.

Hopefully, my cooking will get better.

note: I'm learning to use CSS for this blog. A good resource is the W3Schools site.

lunch »

• Jack in the Box Southwest Chicken salad
  
• Pokka aloe^v + white grape juice
  

Sharon was sick last night with the flu, so I picked up thousand-year-old egg and lean-salted pork jook (congee/rice soup) from Wah Kung. Warm, simple, and tasty, jook's always great when feeling ill. Along the way I got a SouthWest Chicken salad from Jack in the Box for today's lunch.

I've always been a fan of the JitB salads for their convenience, price, and health benefits. $5.00 (+tax) for a neatly-packaged, generously-portioned meal that's good for you -- what can beat that?! Heck, it's even quick to get, as it's already prepared and the cashier just has to match the dressing to the salad and hand it to you.

But then, I read the nutrition information on the dressing and was appalled. 270 calories in a 2.5 oz. packet; of those 270 calories, 240 was from fat! I guess when the main ingredient is soybean oil, that shouldn't be a surprise. I've known previously that dressing can ruin a salad, but seeing the figures really puts the point home. Just how bad is the dressing compared to the rest of the salad? Let's "Build Your Meal":
Interesting, huh? 56% calories from fat. The main culprits are the dressing and cheese. By taking those out, the numbers drop drastically to 343.5 calories and 80.1 (23%) calories from fat -- it becomes a low-fat food! However, it's too bothersome to take out the cheese, so adding that back in and substituting for a balsamic dressing (didn't know that was possible), the total becomes 495 Cal, 180 fat Cal (36%)!