Your Favourite Food Channel aka Healthy Yums

Who doesn't like pizza?! :o) Mr. Green makes the best whole grain pizza crusts. I don't really know his secret...I'll have to wrestle it out of him one day!

I do know that today, he only used whole grain flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil. As for the sauce, he mixed tomato sauce, basil, oregano, spicy sambal oelek (a must in most of our cooking), some chopped chili and garlic.


As you can see from the above photo, Mr. Green got creative and used black olives for one half, green olives for the other, and low-fat cheese on the half with both kinds of olives.

Ah, homemade pizza. Yum. Much healthier than your local neighbourhood pizza joint, too.

Here's another open sandwich Mr. Green made for me. Mr. Green loves sandwiches! I love sandwiches just as much as the next person does, but sometimes two slices of bread is too heavy for me and so Mr. Green makes open-faced sandwiches then.

What I didn't realise until we got to Denmark, is that open-faced sandwiches is a very traditional, sandwich type deal in Scandinavia. They call it smørrebrød here, and typically consists of a slice of whole-grain rye bread (like the above), and could be topped with smoked salmon (also like the above). Unbeknown to Mr. Green, he's actually made us smørrebrød for dinner tonight! :o)

(Tip of the day: Smoked salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which means healthy fats, niacin, vitamin B6, protein, vitamin B12 and selenium. However, it is also high in sodium, so pair it with low-fat and low-sodium options and remember, everything in moderation!)

Mr. Green's been at it again, playing around in the kitchen. Apparently he dreamed this one up while taking a mid-day power nap. He got up with a vengeance, refused to let me make lunch, and came up with this,

Baked stuffed tomatoes and mushrooms. With chopped chillies on top for my spicy palate. YUM!


Now I'm not sure what he stuffed them with, I know there was cheese, spinach, possibly some egg, but I can assure you it tasted absolutely delicious. The tomatoes were baked just the right amount for it to retain its firmness, but yet was juicy and soft inside. The mushrooms too, were cooked juuuuust nice.

I think he still wants to work on this dish a little more. Once he's perfected it, I'm sure he'll make an appearance on this site and share the recipe. Stay tuned!

I've been having these very strange sugar cravings lately. My sweet tooth has been in overdrive for the past two weeks or so. After indulging in some Ben & Jerry's last night, I decided to look up what the cause of these cravings could be.

Stress, depression, yeast in GI-tract, chromium deficiency, not enough omega-3...ahah! Perhaps that. I've hardly been having any fish lately.

But then I read a little further, and some experts suggest eating protein whenever you have sugar cravings. That seemed a much simpler explanation than the above mentioned. This is because protein helps stabilise blood sugar, and when your blood sugar is balanced, you're much less likely to crave sugar. I thought back to what I've been eating in the last month or so, and I've realised that I haven't had much meat in the last two weeks at all (which is when these cravings began). Usually, we eat quite a bit of tofu, but soy products aren't as readily available here in Denmark and so we've been going without.

Good examples of protein-rich foods are meat, poultry, fish, peanut butter, eggs, dairy, tofu, nuts, legumes, whey and soy.

And unfortunately, we haven't been getting enough protein. According to this online calculator by the University of Maryland (it gives you an estimation of how much protein/fibre/carbs you need a day), I need about 64g of protein in a day. That's a lot!



Of course, other google searches on our custom search sidebar (don't you just love the internet) brought up other online calculators that gave me numbers ranging from 45g-55g. 55g of protein is about 6-7 glasses of soy milk, and I probably get only 4 in a day.

According to Calorie Count, half a chicken breast, roasted gives you about 26.7g of protein. I should probably start eating chicken again :o).

OR, find a place which sells tofu. OR, take supplements. Nutrition in food these days aren't the same as they used to be 20 years ago, and supplements is a great way to make sure you're getting enough of your daily requirements.

I gotta go check out the pharmacies, soon!

I am so lucky to have someone who loves cooking and eating as much as I do. Except Mr Green probably pays more attention to presentation than I do. Hence, this is what I got when I asked for a pesto and spinach sandwich.

I felt like something creamy and heavy today. But I didn't want the high fat content. So I searched around for a recipe for cream or cheese sauce that doesn't use any butter. The following is what I came up with, and it turned out pretty well!

Ingredients (estimated portions)

2 cups of finely grated low-fat cheese (I used cheddar)
4 tbs of whole grain flour
2 cups of soy milk (unsweetened. I'll never use soy milk with added sugar if I can help it)
1 tbs of oregano
Kale
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Sun-dried tomatoes

Notice that these portions are just approximate portions. That's what happens when you're playing around in the kitchen. So feel free to play around with your own portions according to taste. By the way, this might happen quite a lot, having to quote estimated portions :o).

Mix the cheese, flour and oregano together. Make sure the cheese is coated with the flour. Heat the milk, then mix in the cheese mixture slowly, constantly stirring it until it melts and thickens. You can add or reduce the milk to your preferred thickness.

Cut up the kale and steam them separately. Kale has a bitter taste to it and so I prefer to always steam them first.

Once the sauce is nice and thick, add in the broccoli and mushrooms. Cook it a little while with the sauce, then add in the kale and sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve over whole grain pasta.

Yummilicious, was creaaaamy and tasted heavy, but low in fat :o).

I used to eat. A lot. I never paid much attention to what I was putting into my body. Overeating was normal to me. Three plates of rice in a single sitting was not unusual, and my friend and former tennis partner, June and I used to celebrate a match well played by eating large pizzas till we popped.

It was only once I left college that I realised I could no longer afford such bad eating habits. I started to implement changes in my diet, like switching to whole grains, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits and reducing fat intake. I felt so much better physically, that it spurred on a complete makeover in eating habits.

Of course all the while, without compromising on taste. I was born and bred in Malaysia's food capital, Penang, and food and eating play a very important role in my life. I don't feel like I need to give up or deny myself good food if I want to stay healthy. I just have to be more creative.

For starters, I think it's a good idea to know how much my body needs. I don't think I need to start obsessing (although those who know me might tell you otherwise) over every calorie I take in, but I do think I need a ballpark figure to begin with.

Once I have that figure (based on my weight, height, daily activities, age), I can start to compare them to my meals and see if I'm providing myself with the right amount of eating.

(Tip of the day: If you're trying to lose weight, you should probably try to reduce 500 calories a day, which equals to losing 1 pound of fat per week. Don't try to lose weight too quickly if you want to keep it off! 1 pound per week is a pretty good rate. If you're trying to gain weight, increase instead of decrease. 3500 calories is basically equal to 1 pound of fat. If you want to learn more, google this using our custom google search on our sidebar)

There are plenty of websites out there that give you nutritional value for foods, but I find the following one to be the most convenient.



Not only can you look up nutritional information, but they also give you rough estimates of how many calories you burn doing what activity. Just type in your activity, and some details about yourself in their activity calculator.

Also, I recently came across a Malaysian-based website that provides nutritional info on local foods. What a find!



And lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, I believe in healthy portions and healthy options. You can always prepare your own meals with healthier options without compromising on taste and flavour. And that's what this website is mainly about. Finding good tasting, and healthier options for healthy living. :o)