Smoothie King's Daughter (12.30.2008)

Monday Night

Last night, after taking Oscar for a quick romp in the park, Kevin and I headed to the gym for spin class. I ran into my old roommate over the weekend and while I was telling her how hard the 7pm class was, she politely informed me that the 6pm class was the hardest they had and people fight to get into there.

That settled it - I had to try it.

Good thing I got there 10 mins before class because there were probably only 5 bikes left in a room full of at least 40. The spin instructor made me work so hard. My legs ached and I couldn't catch my breath. I was loving it. It might have been the first time that there was sweat on the floor around me. Gross, I know. I am one of those sweaty girls at the gym.

Someone once told me it is healthy to sweat a lot - so that is what I tell myself when I walk by girls that look perfectly primped after their workout. I am always a mess, but at least I am healthy. ;)

After devouring sliced raw zucchini dipped in TJ's edamame hummus, I decided to try making Meghann's award-winning Pumpkin Pecan Encrusted Chicken.

I had leftover pumpkin I needed to use up and it seemed like a simple, delicious, and healthy way to prepare the chicken. All true. It was fantastic. Great recipe!

I also made some cauliflower mash and pine nut couscous to go along with the chicken. Is it me or does my plate of food look like a face with a knife sticking out of the eye?

After dinner, I tried the Mango & Cream bars from Trader Joes. They were very refreshing, but may be better in the summer months. I was bundled up under a blanket eating it.

I spent the remaining hours of the night reading through my Vita-mix Recipe cookbook, watching The City premiere, and cleaning out my new blender to get it prepped for a morning smoothie.

The directions suggest you clean out the blender before using, which I did and was amazed at the suds it created. Is that weird to be excited about? It's the small things in life.

I put 5 cups warm water with one tiny drop of dish soap and blended on high for like 5 secs.

This blender is no joke. I had to spend 5 minutes rinsing all the suds out.

Tuesday Morning

(anyone else have this store near them? love it)

I really wanted to see if this blender could blend ice and not leave chunks. My old blender would never fully blend the ice or frozen fruit and it was annoying. I decided to come up with my own concoction and do a simple Banana/Almond Butter Smoothie.

Ingredients

• 1 cup light vanilla soy milk
• 1/2 large banana
• spoonful almond butter
• 2 large ice cubes

All the ingredients are ready to go.

I followed the directions for another smoothie in the cookbook that had ice and set the speed to Variable, and then quickly turned the level from 1-10. It blended for about 20 seconds.

Um...WOW. There was not a trace of ice in this thing. Perfectly blended and pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

I want to be fair and give the negatives about this blender as well, so if I had to come up with one gripe about the thing - it would be the noise. It terrified my dog so much that I had to coax him back downstairs with a treat. Maybe add a noise muffler on there?

As I sipped on my morning smoothie, I kept thinking that I could totally open my own smoothie shop with this thing. Or better yet, come up with some new, healthy smoothie recipes that my corner coffee shop could start selling. Then, I could be a guest smoothie maker on the weekends...using my new blender. I could also set-up stands at different post-race celebrations to get the word out. Fun!

I wonder if Smoothie King would want be cool if I opened up a spin-off called, Smoothie King's Daughter. I think it's catchy. Dibs on this idea. ;)

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Almond-Crusted Chicken (12.18.2008)

Tonight, I wanted to make a healthy dinner that would make me feel good since last night involved waaay too much alcohol. I used this recipe for Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers at Eating Well, which is a great little magazine.

The food processor makes things so easy. I don't, however, enjoy cleaning it.

I had thought the almond/whole wheat flour mixture would be dry, but the recipe told me to drizzle in a little EVOO. After I did this - I realized that I just made ALMOND BUTTER for the first time. That was pretty cool, except it made coating the chicken breasts extremely difficult.

It could be because I didn't measure anything I put into the food processor. I tend to just eyeball that stuff. Either way, the chicken turned out moist and tasty.

Check out my cute new plate - given to me by my friend Laura - there are three other that will also be featured soon. I love square plates.I tried every angle to make this chicken look appetizing, but after 10 different pictures, I gave up and just sliced it.I also put together a salad with tomatoes, yellow squash, onions, and goat cheese crumbles. Mixed together EVOO and Balsamic Vinegar as a light dressing. Salad tastes better served in a wooden bowl.View of the whole dinner together...
I really don't like many salad dressings. I have about 5 different bottles in my fridge because I try them once and then never use them again. My favorites are Good Seasons italian dressing or plain old evoo/balsamic.

About to settle in to watch the episode of Celebrity Rehab that I missed. Anyone else enjoy this show? I love it.

Good night all!

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Some Eats and My Next Marathon!

Thank you so much for all of your well wishes for my mom. She is doing better than we expected only 2 days after the accident, which is a great thing!

I wanted to share some of my eats from yesterday that were delicious. I was craving healthy stuff since Sunday consisted of a chicken cheese steak (grilled chicken, but still) and pizza. Ordered out from the ER and needed the comfort. For Monday's breakfast, I whipped up a fruity protein shake with the following:

• appx 1.5 cups frozen mixed berries
• 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
• appx. 1 cup of skim milk
• 1 banana

I didnt measure the ingredients (besides the protein powder), but it filled two coffee cups perfectly which was great for Kevin and I. When I arrived to work, I ate a AB and fig jam sandwich to round out my breakfast. This filled me up until I snacked on some edamame around 11am - i love these. Could eat them every day. Also brought a honey crisp apple and carrots, which I ate later in the afternoon.

I met my friends Camey and Ashley, Camey's mom and Camey's daughter Mya for lunch at Don Pablos. I ate too many chips and salsa and then had 1 chicken taco with some beans and rice. I was stuffed. But had to share this cute picture of Mya, who is 10 months old. Such a sweetie!

Ok, maybe 2 pictures! Check out those bottom teeth and that cute smile!

I headed over to my parents house later to check on my mom - she was up and moving around, which was a great thing! Dinner was made by my father: Panko crusted chicken tenders with a apricot marmalade on top, sweet potato fries, and steamed broccoli. YUM.

This morning, I signed up for the HARRISBURG MARATHON on November 9th, so I have 4 weeks to maintain and be ready for this race. It is supposedly a pretty flat and fast course, so my goal is going to be to break my PR of 4:27. lets hope I can do it!!! :)

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Ping Pong is my game

This afternoon's snack was carrots with about a tablespoon of almond butter(maybe more) and then a south african orange....but it wasn't enough! I drove home from work starving and immediately had some pita chips with hummus. Those did the trick.

Oscar got another trip to the park to play with some buddies and then Kevin and I dropped him off at home and went off on a 45 min bike ride around the inner harbor. I love how they have extended this path all along the water. It is great to bike, run or walk and while it was a little chilly - we warmed up fast. We havent been mountain biking as much in recent months because of the marathon training, but I am sure we will pick it up after this weekend. Didnt want to get hurt! We rode by where, I think, Michael Phelps bought his condo on the water in Fell's Point and I tried to look for him, but no such luck. :)

It was a nice to get out and give our legs a light workout. When we got back, Kevin wanted a chance to try and beat me in ping pong. I should point out that he has never beat me in the hundreds of games we have played! I grew up playing ping pong at all family functions and my father was some sort of fraternity house ping pong champ, so it is in my blood. ;)

Dinner tonight was cajun-style grilled chicken, whole wheat mac&cheese, and steamed brussels sprouts. I ended up cutting everything up in little pieces and mixing it all together - perfect!Off to watch Biggest Loser - hope everyone has a great night! oh and I will probably have a little more of the ice cream from last night to satisfy my sweet tooth!

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Flag Football and a Ballerina

On the way to work, I couldnt resist a coffee from High Grounds. A medium, hot, skinny, caramel latte....heaven.Mid-morning snack was a slice of my pineapple/banana bread.Lunch was another chicken caesar wrap from Buon Giorno. Have I had one of these every week? i think so, but I crave them and they are so delicious. Cant be too bad for me either - well i am sure the dressing isnt the best, but lots of grilled chicken and salad to cancel that out! :)

I had a clif mojo peanut butter pretzel for dessert.Later in the afternoon, I had a mix of pomegranate greek yogurt, oatmeal squares, almonds, and dried cranberries. yum.Tonight, I helped babysit my niece and nephew and had alot of fun watching Justin's flag football practice and hanging out with Jenna, the ballerina.

Here is Justin - check out that eye contact with the ball!Here is jenna...mid-twirl...
We stopped and picked up some Chick Fil-A chicken nuggets on the way back to my sister's house from practice. Umm, these things are amazing and definitely horrible for me, but if anyone has had them, they will understand how delicious they are - all white meat, "barely" fried ;) Had some edamame and tortellini with parmesan to go with the chicken. Like my festive plate? Halloween is coming...BOO! ;) All the food was great!
Came home and had the ripest, most perfect peach ever.
Oh, I know this is off subject, but I wanted to share this awesome link to a feature on the design sponge blog about a good friend's sister. Check out the pictures of her house - how cool is that?!

Just finished watching the Biggest Loser right now - this show is addicting. So excited that there is a new season! Good night everyone!

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"Chicken Von Ronzo"

My Sunday took an active turn since my last post. Got a little stir crazy being inside on this sunny day, so first I did 4 sets of 15 push-ups and 20 sit-ups. Then, Kevin and I took Oscar up to Robert E Lee Park in Mt. Washington for a walk. We probably walked for about 30 mins through the woods by the water. They have closed the bridge that used to cross over to this long path and park area. I heard the reason they shut the bridge was because there was a stabbing there which is very sad because it was such a nice place to bring your dog or take a run. The sign actually said there were structural issues with the bridge, so who knows. It was nice to get outside, but it was super humid and I felt breathless going up very small hills.

Once home, Kevin was set to cook up a hearty tomato sauce from scratch. It is awesome that he loves to cook as much as I do - he actually took a few cooking classes in college! But when he cooks, it means that I have to do dishes, so I try to cook as much as possible ;)

This dish is going to be called "Chicken Von Ronzo", as requested by the chef. Please dont ask me why. :)

He used the following ingredients for the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whipped light butter
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 7 baby carrots, chopped finely
• 3 tablespoons of a Knorrs Vegetable soup packet
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 5 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

He sauteed the oil, butter, garlic, onion, and carrots to the pan over medium-high heat. These softened slightly (5-10 min) and then he added the soup seasoning and deglazed the pan with the white wine. Next, he added the tomatoes and salt and pepper. Once the tomatoes had cooked slightly - he added the bay leaves and let simmer for about 10-15 more minutes.

I actually cooked the pasta and chicken. The pasta was whole wheat linguini and for the chicken, I used three boneless chicken breasts and dipped them in a beaten egg, then coated them with italian bread crumbs. They were baked in a 400 degree pre-heated oven for about 20-25 mins.

I also shucked the corn from the produce share and boiled them for about 10-15 mins.

Once the pasta was done, I added salt, pepper, a tablespoon of the light, whipped butter, and a spoonful of part-skin ricotta. The pasta was added to the tomato sauce. Then, some crumbles of asiago cheese were sprinkled on...and the baked chicken was sliced on top.This dish was SCRUMPTIOUS. The corn was OK. For some reason it wasnt as sweet as I like. I also had a glass of chardonney with dinner.Dessert was a handful of dark chocolate covered edamame. yum. (there were more than you see in my hand below)Oh and I pulled out the frozen strawberry chobani yogurt and am waiting for it to thaw a little before digging in. Thanks to Fab and Delicious Food for that idea! Italian ice!Good night!

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Relaxing Sunday (Pineapple/Banana Bread)

Today has been an extremely relaxing day and I have been cleaning! I feel like cleaning CAN be relaxing - especially if you are taking your time and dont have that much to do. After spending all morning cleaning up around the house and doing some laundry - lunch was a new, healthier version of a chicken parm sub.

I took soft whole wheat bread and toasted it for few minutes with some light whipped butter. Meanwhile, I mixed together grilled chicken (sliced and torn apart), tomato sauce, oregano, and garlic/parsley mix. I pulled the toast out of the toaster, placed it on my baking stone, and topped with my chicken mixture and mozzarella cheese. I had pre-heated the oven at 400 degrees and then baked the chicken parm open-faced sandwiches for about 10 mins.

These toasts were great! Also had some raw zucchini "fries" and carrots with hummus on the side. This was a very filling lunch.Later this afternoon I tried this new yogurt, Chocolate Underground, which was vanilla yogurt with chocolate sauce on the bottom. I mixed it all together with some sliced almonds and it was soooo good. A great healthy alternative to satisfy the chocolate cravings.I was feeling ambitious and had 5 overripe (rotten) bananas, so I decided to try and make a healthy version of banana bread. Basically, I kept everything the same in my normal recipe, except I substituted crushed pineapple for the butter. It came out great - extremely moist, but definitely more of a pineapple/banana bread flavor! Here is the recipe below:

Pineapple-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (could probably substitute wheat, but I didnt have any)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 8oz can crushed pineapple (orig. recipe called for 1/2 cup butter)
  
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/2 cups mashed overripe banana
• optional: 1 cup chopped nuts (i didnt have any)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Mix pineapple, sugar together in separate bowl. Add eggs and banana to pineapple/brown sugar mixture. Pour wet ingredients into flour mixture and mix well. Spray 9x5 inch loaf pan lightly with PAM and then pour in batter. Bake 60-65 mins or until toothpick comes out clean. ENJOY!

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Back to Work and Barney Butter is in!

It is always extremely tough going back to work after a long weekend - today was no different, just a blah day.

Breakfast was Oatmeal with skim milk, half a banana, raisins, almonds, SF maple syrup, and a spoonful of PB.On the way to work, I was in desperate need of a coffee, so I stopped off at Dunkin Donuts for a hot, skinny, caramel latte with 1 splenda. It kept me warm in my COLD office. well, I dont actually have an office - its cubicle world where i work, but the building is cold.

While I was on the phone for an hour with tech support because of Word crashing, I snacked on my cashew cookie larabar.I had a meeting run from 11:30am to 1pm, so when i got out, I heated up my leftovers from last night and also had this raspberry smashed fruit thing. I was still hungry after this stuff, so I went for my pomegranate greek style yogurt and added in some oatmeal squares and almonds. First time trying this flavor and it did NOT disappoint. Later, around 4pm, I snacked on a sliced apple with some PB.
I was home for about 5 mins after work when there was a knock on the door. My BARNEY BUTTER was delivered! I was so excited to try it - that i tore into one of the 90 calorie packets right away. It was really good!
Tonight's workout was a light jog around patterson park with Oscar. My legs felt good and I wasnt sore at all, which surprised me. But my arms were SO sore from yesterday's pushups. Tomorrow is another pushup/ab workout and a longer run.

Tonight for dinner, I wasnt in the mood to actually cook, so I threw together a flatbread wrap that included:
- grilled chix (this is from the pre-made section in TJs) I know - lazy.
- 1 flatbread
- garlic/herb laughing cow
- half a roma tomato
- spinach leaves
- sliced pickles

This is going to become a new staple - i can feel it - it was really goooood. On the side, I had some multigrain pita chips with hummus and a few baby carrots. Oh and I made another sparkling mango as my drink. I am totally addicted to these now.
Dessert is going to be a small scoop of this caramel/vanilla ice cream. It is the half the fat kind, so that makes it only half as bad. right? ;)

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