I am not a smoker.

It is early Wednesday morning and I am waiting to see what the weather will bring. So far this week has been a bust except for calorie counting and even that is suspect. Monday brought bad air quality and so did Tuesday so I could not in good conscience take Thing 3 out just for the sake of my waistline. I am not a smoker and don't want Thing 3 to be one either and it would have been just like exposing ourselves to that fate. Anyway, yesterday I thought I'd try to keep busy because I don't remember what I did on Monday. I think I cleaned a bit but it is easier for me to eat less if I am busy because I am a bored eater. So Tuesday, the same as Monday, came with no workout which is my own fault because I have been known to walk the mall with all the old people in the morning. I tried to get ahold of MR but to no avail. I had planned on going with her if her air quality was better than mine. But I digress. So Tuesday, with all its bells and whistles, brought me to a place I really shouldn't go. I was on the internet looking up recipes for dinner and for what to do with this great big zuke that my father gave me. Normally I am uncreative when it comes to dinner but lately I have been trying different things. Earlier this week we had balsamic chicken for dinner which was awesome! And it was low cal too! Can't beat that.  Yesterday I made a spicy Asian beef dish which I turned into lettuce wraps. Also very good. I was watching a cooking segment on my local news and they used leeks and for some strange reason that sounded good so I searched the net for leek recipes. I now realize that I have eaten leeks before and just not realized it. The Man said it is definitely something I can repeat so I'll mark that one down in the old noggin. And to top off my list of indulgences, I normally make zucchini bread but I thought I'd try something else. I made Zucchini Brownies. Also good. Well, I suppose the fam liked them because only half the pan is left and when The Man came home he snuck one before he knew what it was. I just laughed. He couldn't go back and say "eewww, zucchini, I can't eat that" after he already had a look of indulgent enjoyment on his face while biting into the brownie. In all actuality, the brownies were for my neighbor but they obviously didn't get there. Perhaps today I'll just make more. I have quite a lot of zucchini left as it was a big one. As for calorie counts I guess it wasn't too bad. It turns out the spicy Asian beef was 381 calories a serving and the brownies were a whopping 210 calories per serving which might have been more for me since I didn't think there was enough batter for a 9x13 pan so I put it in my 11x7. Alas, I guess my day for calorie counting was not as bad as I supposed because whilst I was cooking, baking, and cleaning, I was not eating! Hooray for small successes. I'll have to keep my low cal dinners going because I didn't even realize they were low cal. I guess my earlier post about not getting enough food while calorie restricting was wrong. I find that I have to be more conscious of where my calories go instead of haphazardly eating. I realize though, that most of my dinner cooking has been fairly low cal and I didn't know it. At least when I made my own sauces. So that I don't lose these recipes, I'll post them here for myself and any who happen to read this blog.

Asian Fire Meat

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 1 pound beef London Broil, sliced paper thin

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, and red onion. Stir in the black pepper, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, leeks and carrot. Mix in the meat by hand to ensure even coating. Cover and let marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
2. Brush the bottom half of a wok with cooking oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Put in all of the meat and marinade at once, and cook stirring constantly. The meat will be cooked after just a few minutes. Remove from heat and serve with rice or noodles. For Korean style fire meat, roll the meat mixture up in a leaf of red lettuce.

Zucchini Brownies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.

If there is any left, I may post pictures but we'll see.