So Saucy

So, the daily battle rages in my current weight loss journey. See, the problem is: I really, really dig food. When I’m eating, I love all the wonderful sensations – the textures, the tastes, the temperatures. I love the way I feel after a particularly satisfying meal. And I don’t just love eating: I love the anticipation of eating…thinking about what I’ll eat at my next meal, planning for a little sweet treat, thinking about grabbing a yummy snack. See? Pretty much everything about food just makes me happy.

Hence my weight problem, right?

Well, not necessarily. One of the things I was so amazed about the first time I did the Weight Watchers thing was how great I actually felt while eating smaller portions of very healthy foods. Avoiding junky food actually does make you feel better overall. The thing is, we tend to get stuck in a rut — a culinary rut — and it’s hard to dig ourselves out. Joining Weight Watchers forces you to drop the reliance on fast food (it’s not that you can never have it, but you really have to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of having it, and you certainly won’t have it every day!) and quick-and-dirty family meals. I can no longer just add a cup of shredded cheddar to a box of Hamburger Helper and chow down until my sides expand…unless it’s going to be the only meal of the day (or week!). So joining Weight Watchers again has forced me to shake things up a bit, menu-wise.

Which proved to be very serendipitous when the nice folks at VH sauces sent me some info about a survey they recently commissioned, which revealed that two thirds of Canadians say they are in a rut when it comes to preparing dinner. Well, I could relate to that! They asked if I’d like to sample some of their new VH Thai Market sauces, and I readily agreed. They arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday afternoon, and so for Tuesday dinner we enjoyed a delicious chicken and noodle dish made with VH Thai Market Pad Thai. And that was yum, but it was yesterday’s dinner that really blew me away.

I cooked boneless skinless chicken breast chunks in the VH Thai Market Yellow Curry sauce, and served it over 1/2 cup of sticky rice and steamed asian vegetables. So delicious. And at 170 calories per 1/2 cup, this sauce adds only 2 Weight Watchers points to an otherwise very bland stir-fry. The sauce is so intensely flavourful, but not too hot for my kids. It has a wonderful lemongrass and coconut flavour, with just a hint of heat – in fact, it tastes almost identical to the yellow curry sauce at my favourite asian fusion restaurant!

Now that it’s time to make dinner tonight, I’m a little disappointed I don’t have any more chicken left – otherwise I’d make exactly the same thing again. Ooops! But that would be getting into another dinner rut, wouldn’t it?