Cheap and Easy...Trader Joe's Bool Kogi

While we've been known to get pretty elaborate with our recipes here on the blog, it's a bit much to expect to sit over a hot stove on a summer day when the temps are trending over 110 degrees. Still want to eat at home but without too much effort.

That's where the magic of Trader Joe's comes in. Here there are plenty ready to eat and pre-prepared groceries that are delicious and easy to cook.

Recently, it was another dreadfully hot Sunday and...honestly...cooking was the last thing I wanted to do but it is my responsibility to provide the meals on that day. I was picking up some staples like milk and eggs at my local Trader Joe's, thinking about what quick-serve place I could go to pick up dinner that night.

For some reason, I wandered over to the pre-prepared foods cooler just to see what was there. The 'Bool Kogi,' TJ's bulgogi Korean-style beef, looked good and easy so I picked up a package.

To get to the point, this made for a easy, quick dinner. I put some rice in the steamer, fired up my Weber grill with a load of charcoal, and opened the package.

Basically, it's flank steak marinated with a variety of Asian style seasonings and sesame seeds...sort of a Korean carne asada.

The hot grill made short work of cooking the meat.  So I chopped it up and served over rice in a bowl.  Not bad but needed a little extra. We had a few lefter over Waba sauce packets (teriyaki sauce that's served at the Waba Grill restaurant chain) and put a little on top.

There it is...quick, delicious teriyaki bowls made at home for a fraction of what I'd pay at a take out place.

Better than that, we had plenty of meat left over. The next morning, I threw a handful in a skillet and cracked open some eggs.

Pour an egg, cream, salt and pepper mix over it...sprinkle on some shredded cheese...and scramble to make some of the most delicious steak and eggs I've had in quite awhile.

This Week's Gardening - 

Weeding and trimming, mostly, like cutting back on the deadheads of this glaucous daisy I have growing around my mailbox.

You can already see new flower buds coming. Also, spraying the front yard roses with deer repellent. Let's see if that works, and doing a sprinkler check for clogged emitters.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

D-Day - Living with Type II: Great Helpers in the Fight Against Diabetes

As I go along on the journey of a diabetic, I learn what my friends and foes are in the food world.  I've talked about some of the foes in the past, let's meet some friends.

First, I have to give recognition to two of the best places to find diabetic friendly food, Costco and Trader Joes, I can find quite a bit in those aisle.

Eggs are full of protein and are pretty diabetic friendly but the yolks add a bit of fat and a good dose of bad cholesterol, which can bring some other complications to a diabetic.  I've got good numbers from my latest checkup except that my cholesterol has creeped up just above the red line.

I could eat eggs morning, noon, and night. I love them and would eat two a day.  A bit much so I found these Kirkland egg whites at Costco. Now, I replace one of the eggs with an ounce of this which is not a great sacrifice at only 25 calories, no fat, 5 mg of protein, and 75 of sodium.

It's tasty, easy, and pretty cheap. One container of a similar product at Trader Joes costs about five dollars. A six pack at Costco is less than ten and the other containers freeze very well.

Also at Costco is this jerky, which has half the sodium (330 mg) of comparable jerkies, 60 calories, a half gram of fat, 5 grams of carbs, and 9 protein.

Along with this Havarti cheese from Trader Joes, an ounce of jerky with half an ounce of cheese is good for a quick twenty point reduction in my glucose level.

Bread is not what is considered friendly for diabetics, it's true, but this multigrain bread from Kirkland loads those carbs so slowly that it almost seems neutral.  I made a grilled cheese and ham using it (recipe coming soon!) that actually lowered my glucose by 8 points. It's 140 calories per slice, 1.5 grams of fat, 210 mg. of sodium, 26 grams of carbs, and 6 of protein.

Speaking of ham, I use the low fat and low sodium variety made by Danola or Trader Joe's Healthy Ham for a really good dose of lean protein that really gives a satisfying kick to dishes such as this omelet as well as that sandwich. A slice of that ham has 20 calories, 180 mg. of sodium, no fat, no carbs, and 5 grams of protein. I use half a slice in either the omelet or the sandwich.

It's a journey but I'm glad I'm finding some treasures along the way. All of these foods have gone a long way to be tasty and keep me from feeling hungry. Hope to have some more to share with you soon.

Darry
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved