Ya know those coupons you get with the paper and how some of them come with a recipe? I always thought they just made it up on the fly just to sell some products, and maybe they do. But this recipe was amazing! I tried it last night. I'll give you the original recipe and then how I made it.

Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chicken

2 cups MINUTE white rice, uncooked
1 can (20 oz) DOLE pineapple chunks
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup sweet & sour sauce
2 tbsp less sodium soy sauce

Prepare rice according to package directions.
Drain pineapple; reserve 2 tbsp juice.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add pepers, onions and mushrooms; cook until vegetables are tender crisp. Remove vegetables from skillet; set aside.
Cook chicken in same skillet until chicken is browned and cooked through. Add vegetables back to the skillet with sweet & sour sauce, soy sauce, pineapple chunks and reserved juice. Heat through. Serve with hot cooked rice. Serves 6.

First, I cut this in half since I was only cooking for two. So I made 1 cup BROWN rice, used half the can of pineapple, but still a whole yellow pepper, 1 chicken breast cut up, no mushrooms and I sadly didn't have onion, so I added some hot sauce. And at the end, I mixed the rice in with everything so it would get coated in that sauce. It was so good, please try it and let me know how it turned out for you!

Check out this article. How cool right? I need to become famous enough to have a show at one of those theaters just to try his food :)

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8. Think Big. Restaurants are not required to emblazon nutritional information on the side of their plates, which makes it nearly impossible to guess how many calories are in each meal. Care to venture a guess? Well, if you're like most people, you're not even int he ballpark. A 2006 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that consumers given an obviously high-calories restaurant meal still underestimated the caloric load by an average of 600 calories. Use that as the new barometer to gauge the heft of your dinner.

9. Think thin. Want to know the easiest way to make a portly pizza? Here's a hint: It has nothing to do with toppings. Nope, the biggest problem facing your pie is the massive boat of oily crust hunkering along the bottom. Your best defense is to order it as thin as you can. Three deep-dish slices from a large Domino's pie, before toppings, will cost you 1,002 calories. Downsize that to a thin crust and you just burned off 420 calories without lifting a finger. Who knew losing weight was so easy?

10. Invite the kids to the grown-up table. Speaking of pizza, how do you rein in the kids' growing affection for cheese and pepperoni? Not by ordering them a personal pan found on so many kids' menus across America. The mini pepperoni at Pizza Hut runs 660 calories, and even the kids' regular crust pizza at Uno Chicago Grill has 780. And it's not just pizza; from 873-calorie "mini" turkey burgers at Ruby Tuesday to 981-calorie nachos at On the Border, kids' menus are often cluttered with problematic foods. Massive portions like this help explain how today's little ones consume 180 more calories per daythan their peers of 1989. That's a lot of girth over the course of childhood. Instead of ordering whole meals, combat the trend by feeding the small appetites with a little off your plate. A couple of slices of your thin pepperoni pizza, for instance, will cost only 400 calories. Half a cheeseburger? About 350 calories. Make this the norm and you'll save calories for them and yourself.

11. Side with sides. Some of the best of restaurant fare can be found in the side items section of the menu. Plates of black beans, roasted seasonal vegetables, and even skewers of "add-on" shrimp are prime fodder for a healthy meal. Stick to two and you can walk out feeling better for not having busted your calorie bank. (Oh, and you'll save cash, too - if you're into that kinda thing.)

12. Personalize your order. Think of the menu as a list of starting points. Any respectable joint in the country - even fast-food purveyors - will tailor to your wants, but only if you voice them. The caloric savings are as big as your imagination. Take a BLT - ask for mustard instead of mayo, then pick off a slice or two of bacon and you've just cut 250 to 400 calories from your sandwich. Use these to help you get the hang of it: Ask them to sub in whole-grain bread on your sandwich at Panera, to make your pasta with whole wheat noodles at Macaroni Grill, and to go light on the oil with your omelet at Denny's. There, wasn't that easy?

13. Order it to go. How many times have you finished your plate just because there wasn't enough to take home? Well, next time, make sure there's enough. Every time you order a full-size dinner entree, ask the server to deliver a to-go box with your food. The food is easier to divide before you start eating, and you won't have to fight the temptation of a half-eaten manicotti sticking in your face.

14. Be a dessert dodger. When the food-industry research company Technomic surveyed 1,500 people on their dessert habits, not a single person reported that they never ate dessert. To contrast, 57 percent said they ate dessert frequently. Of course, there's no problem with an occasional treat, but there is a problem when it takes on half a day's calories to the end of your meal. The average dessert at T.G.I.Friday's, for instance, packs 819 calories. So rather than order your own massive dessert, ask for an extra spoon and take a few bites from your table-mates' orders. You'll be doing everyone a favor.

Eat This, Not That's 14 Restaurant Survival Strategies

1. Front-load with protein. So what's the best way to start the meal? Easy - you want something loaded with lean protein. A study published in Physiology & Behavior showed that people who ate a protein-heavy appetizer consumed an average of 16 percent fewer calories in their entree than those who loaded up with carbohydrates. The effect is spoiled, though, if you wolf down a bunch of greasy chicken strips. Look for something like shrimp cocktail, which hasn't been deep-fried or slathered with cheese.
2. Beware of the booze. We know life's rough, but here's the deal: The standard cocktail has anywhere from 200 to 500 calories, yet those who drink before a meal actually wind up eating more come chow time. Researchers in the Netherlands gave people a premeal treatment of booze, food, water, or nothing. Those who had the booze spent more time eating, began feeling full later in the meal, and consumed an average 192 extra calories.
3. Beware of portion distortion. According to data collected by the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey, food portions are growing. Hamburgers, for instance, have grown by 97 calories since 1977. French fries have grown by 68 calories. The problem with this is, as the research points out, that people don't necessarily stop eating when they're full. Students at Cornell were given access to an all-you-can-eat buffet and told to go to town. Researchers took note of how much they ate; the following week, they served the same students portions of either equal size, 25 percent bigger, or 50 percent bigger. Those with 25 percent more food ate 164 calories, and those with 50 percent more food ate 221 extra calories.
4. Enjoy the conversation. It takes your stomach about 20 minutes to tell you that you're full. That means you need to eat slowly so you get the message before you've overeaten. That shouldn't be hard - just set your fork down every now and again and tell one of the many adventurous stories from your childhood. Told them already? Make up some new ones.
5. Avoid handouts. Just because it doesn't cost money doesn't mean it doesn't have a price. Munch on a couple of Olive Garden's bread sticks or Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits and you've just put down 300 calories before your meal arrives. A basket of chips at the Mexican joint? Expect a price tag around 500 calories, which can easily double the impact of an entree. Not so free now, is it?
6. Don't fall for combos. At every fast-food restaurant, as soon as you decide on an entree, expect to face some variation of this question: "Would you like to make it a combo meal?" Of course, you're tempted. This is the modern-day equivalent of supersizing, wherein you get an average of 55 percent more calories for 17 percent more money. It's also the cheapest way to get fat in a hurry. Just say no.
7. Drink responsibly. Sure, sure, you know all ab out the dangers of soda, but here's what you might not realize: A cup of sweet tea is only marginally better than Pepsi. Each glas you drink with dinner adds about 120 calories to your meal, and the same goes with juice. In fact, America's love affair with flavored drinks adds 450 calories to our daily diet, according to a study from the University of North Carolina. That's an extra 47 pounds of body mass to burn off (or not) each year. Switch to water, though, and it has the opposite effect: The more you drink, the more you shrink. Choose accordingly.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW...

I made this recipe last week and it was AMAZING. I had never made it before and I had to make some substitutions based on what I had in the house. So here's the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Simple Slow Cooker Recipes, followed by what I adjusted.

Beans & Franks

3 16 oz cans pork and beans in tomato sauce
1 16 oz pckg frankfurters, cut into 1-in pieces
1/2 cup catsup
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup molasses
1 tbsp prepared mustard
4 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled
1/4 cup sliced green onions (optional)

In a 4 qt slow cooker, combine pork and beans, frankfurters, catsup, onion, molasses and mustard.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6-8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3-4 hours. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and, if desired, green onions.

I used one can of baked beans, 5 beef hot dogs chopped up, less ketchup, 1/2 red onion, molasses, extra mustard, no bacon or green onion, a can of creamed corn and half of a green pepper. The sauce created with the molasses is just delicious; I hope you try it !!

Continued from yesterday...

Show some restraint:

• Oil and vinegar. Your best bet since you control the ratio. Slick your salad with equal parts oil and vinegar, but be sure to add only enough to lightly coat the greens.
• Blue cheese. Delicious blue cheese comes at a caloric price. If you absolutely must have it, limit yourself to just one meat or other protein and load up on the low-cal veggies we've mentioned.
• Vinaigrettes. Now you're getting warmer. Assuming the vinaigrette is based on olive oil, you'll be getting a big dose of mono-unsaturated fats. Even so, since most vinaigrettes abide by the three parts oil to one part vinegar ratio, you're still looking at 100 calories per serving.
• Raising or /Craisins. They're fruit, yes, but they're likely to be coated in sugar. Opt for fresh fruit whenever possible.
  
• Corn. There are too many nutritionally superior vegetables at the salad bar to invest the calories on corn.
• Bacon. Bacon's gotten some bad press over the years, but one strip has only 40 calories and less than 200 milligrams of sodium. So a pinch of bacon bits is permissible; a handful, however, is not.
• Feta cheese. A smarter pick than blue, being that feta provides that same crumbly bite for fewer calories and less sodium. Still, only in moderation and only with a colorful crew of vegetables to back it up.
• Hard-boiled egg. Sick of chicken? Turn to the egg for another great source of protein. Mix with chickpeas, avocado, and red peppers for the closest thing to salad perfection.
  
• Avocado. Avocados provide a ton of heart-healthy fats and a rich, creamy bite to any salad. But just because monounsaturated fats are good for your heart doesn't mean they won't still make you fat. Try to choose between avocados and nuts.
• Iceberg. The least healthy of common salad bar lettuces. Its high water content makes for a low nutrient density. If you can't skip it, mix it in with darker, healthier greens.
• Sunflower seeds. One of nature's finest sources of vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant that helps fight inflammation and lower cholesterol.
• Walnuts. Yes, they are absolutely jacked with omega-3s and antioxidants, but they're incredibly dense with calories. Keep it down to a tablespoon or two.

Avoid at all costs:

• Croutons. Think of these oil-soaked, enriched flour cubes as salad bar grenades - they'll blow your healthy salad away.
• Shredded cheddar. The worst cheese at the salad bar. Not only is it high inc alories and sodium, but the minuscule shreds tend to bury themselves in the bowl, making portion control a challenge.
• Ranch/Blue Cheese/Caesar. The type of dressing you use is the single most important decision you make at the salad bar. These three represent the most destructive dressings, clocking in around 150 calories and 15 grams of fat per serving.
• French/Catalina/Thousand Island. The trio of range dressings are only marginally less problematic than their white counterparts. That's because they're based on low-grade oils and excess sugar. Expect at least 150 calories for 2 tablespoons of one of these.
  

I was at a buffet this weekend and was completely intimidated by the choices - I mean, it's semi-obvious what's good for you and what's not. Baked fish is better than coated and fried; Spaghetti with marinara is probably a tad better than the macaroni and cheese. But when I got to the salad choices, I was totally overwhelmed. I remembered my Eat This, Not That book had a section on salad bar options, so I looked back at it afterwards and realized I probably could have chosen better toppings. Here's the Salad Bar Survival Guide to help you next time.

Feel free to scarf:

• Chickpeas. Like all legumes, chickpeas bring to the table both protein and fiber, the sultans of satiety. Add to that a healthy dose of antioxidants and you have the makings of a salad-topping superstar.
• Spinach. Pick darker greens for the base. Spinach, on the greenest side of the spectrum, has more vitamins and nutrients than can fit on this page, including folate, which helps ward off mental decline and beta-carotene, which helps protect your eyes and skin.
• Tuna. Tuna fish on a salad, as opposed to tuna salad swimming in mayonnaise, will provide protein and heart-helping omega-3 fats without the heavy caloric price.
• Chicken. Lean protein is the key to making filling salads, and none come much leaner than chicken. If you're banking on the bird, though, remember tht a healthy portion is the size of a deck of cards.
• Tomatoes. Throw some on for lycopene, which has been linked to reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. Tomatoes also provide vitamins A, C, and K.
• Carrots. You'll love them for their sweet crunch and their vision-boosting beta-carotene.
• Mixed Greens. The diversity of leaves assures you a bowl filled with a wide variety of nutrients and active compounds. The delicate nature of these little lettuces, though, means they don't hold up as well to heavy ingredients and dressings.
• Alfalfa Sprouts. These feathery salad additions have a cache of vitamins unrivaled by nearly anything else you can put in your body. Get in the habit of topping off your salad with these.
• Romaine. Compared with iceberg, romaine contains 3 times more folate, 6 times more vitamin C, and 8 times the beta-carotene. Makes a good, sturdy bed for more substantial salads.
• Beets. The scarlet crusaders help to lower blood pressure, maintain your memory, and fight cancer.
• Red or Yellow Peppers. Pick red and yellow over green peppers, which contain half the amount of vitamin C. The more colorful your salad, the greater variety of nutrients you'll take in.
• Broccoli. Vitamin C, fiber, calcium, and few calories. Need we say more?

TO BE CONTINUED...