A sweet and sour start

Since I have been hitting the gym regularly (i.e. regularly lifting weights in addition to my cardio) I have been craving pasta.

Spaghetti in a creamy tomato sauce - Yup, that was my dinner last night.

I substituted Tofutti cream cheese for the cream, just so you know :-)


Not quite sure what the pasta craving means - Do I just need more carbs in my diet? Is it just the usual appetite increase that sometimes comes along after hard workouts? 


The cravings always seem to hit in the evening so it got me thinking that I should add in more carbohydrates in the morning.

So, this morning I came up with the idea for sweet and sour pork and brown rice balls.

They started out as balls but they flattened out in the oven, so technically they should be called patties but I think balls sounds better.

I mixed together:

3/4 cup of cooked brown rice
2 Tbsp. of pineapple juice
1 Tbsp. of pineapple
1 Tbsp. of egg whites
2 Tbsp. of soy sauce
1 Tbsp. of rice wine vinegar
1/3 of a pound of ground pork
1/2 cup of flour
a pinch of cumin
a pinch of salt
cracked black pepper to taste

I rolled the mixture into balls and arranged them on a sheet pan. They went into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

 
They turned out just OK. Next time I need to increase the amount of pineapple - decrease the amount of soy sauce - increase the amount of vinegar and possibly add a little brown sugar. Yup, lots of changes... But they did look pretty.

Sweet and sour pork and brown rice patties with pickled cabbage and apple slices.

The good news? This recipe made enough for several meals so now I have some easy meal options in the freezer.

And some tea.

I am contemplating buying a bathing suit today - a very scary prospect. 

Since I want to look as hot as possible while swimming laps, I am considering this look: