By Kenda - February, 13th 2012

For my husband’s birthday last year I bought him an electric juicer.  We’d been talking for months about the value of juicing since he’s often in and out of the house in a hurry and the fact that he tries not to eat anything solid after 6:00 pm. I thought I could get value from it as well since drinking a cup of juice instead of snacking would definitely help my weight loss goal.

My husband loved it. He juices every night instead of dinner. Even our teen and toddler stand, waiting patiently for their own cup of fruits and veggies to go along with their regular meal. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it quite as satisfying. Although there are tons of vitamins and nutrients — I never felt full; I was always left still hungry. That doesn’t help when you’re trying to lose weight. I decided to try a different approach.

I knew I couldn’t eat a plate full of celery, carrots, spinach, etc every night. I also knew that juice wasn’t going to fill me up. My solution was to condense the vegetables just enough to save space, but fill my tummy at the same time.

So now, I Don’t Juice – I Grind

 I’ve always loved stir fry so the idea that I could make a ‘mini stir fry’ for my evening meals was very appealing. I used garlic, onions, carrots, whole leaf spinach and celery. Then I added in a tablespoon of sesame oil.

I cooked the veggie mixture until it was tender – keeping it on low heat while I browned the protein portion of my meal: Trader Joe’s Pork Gyoza.

Oddly enough, the one element I don’t get enough of in my diet is fat (strange, right?) – so I also put some sesame oil in the pan with the gyoza. If you are watching your fat intake you can boil them. I also like to top mine off with sesame seeds.

I knew it wouldn’t be horrible, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so absolutely delicious! Now I make a ‘grind’ to go with every evening meal and sometimes lunch. You can do this with a skinless chicken breast, thin cut lean steak, broiled fish, tofu etc.

Update — I recently tried a new twist on Grinding: I added it to my meatloaf. I mixed it right in and it was so tasty! It added extra flavor and more vitamins (especially for little picky eaters).

Nutritional Information (with 3 Trader Joe’s Pork Gyoza):

Calories: 245
Carbs: 45.5g
Fiber: 8.5g
Protein: 8g
Vitamin A: 472%
Vitamin C: 55%
Iron: 16%
Calcium: 17%

Full Tummy: 100%