WIAW #51

May 222013

First of all, I just want to take a moment to send my thoughts and prayers to everyone who was affected by the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma. I can’t begin to imagine what they must be going through, and it really makes me stop to think about how lucky I am. In case you’re interested, here’s a link with tips for how to help victims.

Hey guys. I have to admit, I’m feeling a bit down today.

Work has just been super, super stressful lately, and then to top it off we just got out of a meeting with the head of our department where we all got yelled at for not working hard enough. Apparently there are some people on our team who are shouldering all the work (read: me) and some people who have been seriously slacking off (enough to gain the attention of our finance department and get us all in trouble).

Even though I know the meeting wasn’t about me, and I know I have been working by butt off at work, it still sucks to be a part of a meeting where you’re disappointing your senior-level management. No one wants to be a disappointment, especially when you are already overworked and stressed.

At least I have an awesome manager, who said the following to me after the meeting:

“Hi – in case I don’t see you before I leave for the doctor, I wanted to let you know that meeting was not about you; they just needed everyone to be there to hear it. You’re wonderful and everyone loves you. I’m happy to talk with you tomorrow about any questions you may have.”

She is amazing. She seemed to know exactly what I was feeling after the stressful meeting and said exactly the thing to cheer me up (at least a little).

I know I usually try not to ~~talk~~ rant about my real job on here, but sometimes it really affects the way I’m feeling and I can’t just brush it off and go on cheerfully like usual. This week has been one of the most difficult weeks I’ve ever had at this job, and I’m having a little trouble staying positive. I know things will slow down again, but it’s hard to keep that in sight when I’m running around like a crazy person.

But you didn’t come here to read about my work life, so let’s get back to today’s regularly-scheduled programming. It’s What I Ate Wednesday, after all!

Thanks to Jenn for hosting the link up! Here’s a little peek at what I ate on Monday.

Breakfast

Check that out- new cereal! In addition to my usual Multigrain Cheerios, I recently bought some Oatmeal Squares and have been enjoying them for breakfast this week (I measure out 1/2 cup of each, Cheerios and Oatmeal Squares,) with skim milk, a banana, and blueberries. I love this breakfast. I actually get really excited in the morning when I think about eating it (it’s one thing that helps get me out of bed in the morning – is that weird?).

Lunch

Luch was pretty standard around here on Monday- I had turkey, mustard, and American cheese on a sandwich thin, with carrots & hummus on the side. I also had a mini Babybell cheese. This lunch is definitely my favorite go-to It never gets old!

P.S. I hate when my carrots get like this. Why do they turn all white and gross-looking??? I washed them before putting them in the container…so weird.

Snack

A little later in the afternoon I headed into the kitchen to chop up my apple and make some unsweetened green tea, when I saw there were some pretzel crisps leftover from a meeting. Score!! I had a few pretzel crisps with my apple and tea and was very satisfied with my snack. Yum.

Dinner

My dinner on Monday was pretty good, but admittedly not my favorite. I had a piece of tilapia (seasoned with a few herbs, salt, and pepper), some cilantro-lime quinoa (this actually was really good), and roasted brussels sprouts and yellow squash mixed with some goat cheese. Everything about this meal should have been delicious, but for some reason it just wasn’t doing it for me.

Oh, I still ate every bite, but it just wasn’t my favorite dinner ever.

Dessert

Ahhh, nothing like a bowl of low-fat cookies & cream ice cream to end a hard day

Daily Activity: Now that my half marathon is over, I’ve gone back to running 1 mile every morning with Jack and completing Jillian Michaels workout DVDs in the evening. I’m going to try to do all 90 days of the DVD program as scheduled this time (since I actually have 90 days and am not training for anything), so you know I’ll keep you posted. Right now the DVDs seem too easy and I’m actually missing my runs a lot, so I put a 5 mile run on the schedule for this weekend. I hope I get to it!! I’m missing my running!!

Question of the day: What do you do when you’re stressed at work??

Psst…I was really hoping to get my half marathon recap up for you guys yesterday, but with my work schedule that just didn’t happen. Hopefully I can get it up tomorrow!!

Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Recipes 11 Responses »

Oct 092012

Hello there!! Thanks for stopping by on this gloomy, dreary, freezing cold Tuesday. Bleh! Clearly my complaints about the weather yesterday have done nothing to improve it. Instead it is quite gray outside and there is a nasty wind that chills you to the bone. Brr!! I actually wore my light winter jacket and a scarf to work today and I was still chilly. Do I need to start wearing my UGGs on the walk to work already?? Hopefully it will be a while before I have to pull those out of the closet. I thought I was ready for cold weather but by that I really meant a slight breeze blowing colorful leaves around in the sunshine in a happy pumpkin patch haha. Not constant grey skies and cold misty rain

Oh well. More of an excuse to snuggle up and get cozy!

Workout

Because of this dreary weather, waking up for a workout in the morning has been harder than ever. I used to manage it fine last winter, so I’m not sure what my deal is right now. Either way, my workouts have been heading toward an afternoon trend lately and I’m ok with that. Right now sleep seems to have become my priority

Anyway, I went to my first afternoon Body Pump class last week and I really liked the instructor. I know Body Pump can be customized to your own strength and capabilities, but for some reason I feel like the afternoon instructor pushes me out of my comfort zone more than the morning one does. I don’t know what it is about her teaching style, but I could barely get through her tricep routine. It was a great feeling!!

I will say the morning teacher has a more upbeat attitude and spunky music (which, at 6:00 a.m. is much appreciated) but I do like the afternoon teacher’s routine better. Does that ever happen to you guys?? If so, which do you prefer, attitude/spunk or workout difficulty?

Recipe

Ok so this recipe is long awaited. I mean like, I-talked-about-it-two-weeks-ago-and-still-haven’t posted-it-yet long awaited. Forgive me? Anyway, if you were paying attention to my WIAW post from September 26th (let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone was paying that close attention), I alluded to these awesome quinoa veggie burgers that were inspired by this recipe. Made with quinoa, beans, and a bunch of tasty add-ins for flavor, these “burgers” are delicious and healthy. They will definitely become a regular staple in my meal rotation!

I started these burgers by cooking up some quinoa. I made sure to rinse the quinoa through a fine mesh sieve to wash off its bitter outer coating, then I cooked it according to the package directions. I needed about 2 cups of cooked quinoa for the burgers, but I wound up cooking a little extra to have for lunch the next day Great decision!

While the quinoa was doing it’s thang on the stove, I pulled out my food processor and got started on the rest of the burgers.

Into my food processor went about 1 cup of baby carrots (which I minced in the processor before everything else since they are a little tougher), 1/2 red onion,

1 medium-sized red bell pepper, 1 egg, and 1 can of beans, drained and rinsed. You could use any beans you have on hand for this recipe. I wanted to use black beans but was out Boo. However I wound up using white cannellini beans and they worked out great!

Then it was time for some flavah. To my food processor I added 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. minced garlic, and 2 tsp. cumin.

Then I added a dash of salt and pepper and gave it a whirl.

It looked a little strange, but it was smelling great! It kind of reminded me of a really flavorful hummus. Yum! I removed the mixture from the food processor and placed it into a large bowl.

By this point the quinoa was ready and I started folding the fluffy quinoa into the veggie mixture.

The original recipe suggested adding a little flour at this point if things looked a little too watery, but my mixture turned out fine. I popped it in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up a little bit and then it was time to get cooking!

I set a large nonstick skillet to medium-high heat and sprayed it with a little non-stick spray (just to be safe!). Then I used my favorite burger shaping method to form this quinoa veggie mixtures into burgers.

The secret? Use some plastic wrap and a peanut butter lid!

I simply cleaned off the lid to my peanut butter jar, lined the lid with plastic wrap, and used my hands to pack in the burger mixture. Then I removed the plastic wrap from the peanut butter lid and popped it onto the hot pan. So easy!

I also used this method to make extra burgers with the leftovers. This time, instead of tossing the plastic wrap after I placed my burgers on the pan, I used it to individually wrap my burgers.Then I placed them in one big Ziploc bag and popped them into the freezer.

I know I’m a nerd for getting excited about this, but come on!

Right? Haha ok moving on.

I let my burgers cook for a few minutes on each side until everything started to get cooked through. I had to be careful when flipping these babies since they were pretty fragile (that’s why you need to put them in the fridge first!). Once they were browned on each side and firm to the touch, they were ready!

I assembled them on a whole wheat sandwich thin with a bit of salsa spread on top and melted mozzarella cheese. Yum!!

They came out so great! I had them along side of some roasted carrots and brussels sprouts.

This definitely made for a delicious, healthy weeknight dinner!

Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 35 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 8

These healthy veggie burgers are easy to make and packed with flavor!

Ingredients

1 cup baby carrots
1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
1 bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 can beans, rinsed and drained (black would be best but I used cannellini)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 large egg
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups cooked quinoa
A couple tablespoons of flour (depending on your mixture)

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.
Combine first ten ingredients (through pepper) in a large food processor.
Process until you get a smooth, almost hummus-like mixture.
Remove to a separate bowl and fold in quinoa. Add flour if mixture seems too wet.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Mold into “burger” shapes (can use a peanut butter lid) and place onto a hot nonstick skillet sprayed with nonstick spray.
Cook for a few minutes on each side, flipping carefully.
When tops are brown and the burgers feel firm, remove from skillet.
Serve on a whole wheat bun topped with salsa and melted mozzarella cheese.

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So there you have it! My quinoa veggie burgers. These are definitely a new favorite of mine so please let me know if you try them out!

So tell me, what have you been cooking lately??

WIAW #22 & A Volunteer Experience!

Random 2 Responses »

Sep 262012

Hello there! I hope your Wednesday is going well! Mine has been awesome because I spent most of the day volunteering at a local organization called Food & Friends. Food & Friends is an organization in D.C. that is dedicated to caring for men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-challenging illnesses by preparing and delivering specialized meals and groceries in conjunction with nutrition counseling. How great, right?

We spent a few hours there today and my team’s job was to assemble salads and then package them up for delivery. We used a crazy packaging machine that reminded me a lot of I Love Lucy when she gets overwhelmed with chocolates. We had to quickly place the packaged salads in the machine before the plastic wrap sealed around them. It was definitely a bit hectic!

GIFSoup

Even though it was a little overwhelming, it was a lot of fun and I had a great time bonding with my coworkers and helping out the community. Not bad for a Wednesday, huh?

Speaking of Wednesdays…it’s time for What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks go to Jenn from Peas and Crayons as usual for hosting such a huge blogger linkup around the web I love being a part of something so big in the blogging community!

You may remember that these days Jenn is encouraging us to “fall into good habits” and I tried to do that this week by incorporating more veggies and more water into my eats (since I discovered last week that I was failing at those two).

I will say I have been a lot less busy at work recently so I’ve made time for more water (yay!) and even some green tea (double yay, since it is calorie-free and boosts my metabolism). I didn’t take any pictures of my beverages though since I just drink out of a boring styrofoam cup at work and I’m pretty sure no one wants to see that over and over again. Use your imagination if you must

Ok so now let’s see how I did on the veggie front…

Breakfast

For breakfast I recreated Tina’s two-ingredient pancake. It is made up of one egg and one banana. You just mash the two together really well in a small bowl and then grill on a skillet (like a pancake) on medium/low heat for a few minutes. I drizzled it with some melted peanut butter and dug in! These are so easy and delicious!! This was my third time making this type of pancake and I think I have gotten a lot better at knowing when to flip it. Success! I can already tell I will be having these a lot more often

Lunch

For lunch yesterday it was all about the leftovers. I had some leftover roasted potatoes and asparagus as well as some extra quinoa that I cooked up for a new dish that I am excited to tell you about (hint- you will see a preview of it in my dinner picture below!). I mixed them all together in a tupperware bowl and added a little bit of hummus to the mix. This impromptu quinoa/veggie salad was awesomeeee and also very filling. Yum.

Snack

Later in the afternoon my sweet tooth started kickin’ around (always around 3:30-4:00 like clockwork. What a bully). Luckily I packaged up one of my healthy apple cookies and enjoyed it along with a big glass of the aforementioned green tea. It was a perfect afternoon pick me up!

Dinner

Dinner was a brand new creation (which I alluded to above) which I am calling quinoa veggie burgers! They were delicious and really flavorful and I know you guys are going to love the recipe (which I promise to share soon). Plus they are really healthy and have tons of protein and veggies! Awesomeeee. I had some roasted brussels sprouts and carrots on the side. Yum!

So there you have it, that’s what I ate yesterday. I think I did pretty well on the veggie count. I suppose there was a good amount of fatty things in my meal (the drizzled peanut butter, hummus, and cream cheese icing on the cookie) but they were all in small portions so I’m giving myself a pass lol.

So tell me, what have you been eating lately?

Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipes 4 Responses »

Aug 162012

Hey there friends! When did it get to be THURSDAY? One minute I was complaining because this week was dragging on and the next…it’s almost Friday?? Whaaaat? lol.

Anywho, you probably saw that I reached out to you all the other day to provide me with some guest posts while I travel to Italy in a week and a half! However, in addition to reaching out to you all, I also asked some of my friends if they wanted to contribute a guest post for my blog. My friends are a lot like me and try to balance a healthy lifestyle with living life to the fullest, so hopefully you all will like hearing from them. In fact, one of my friends, Jess, even decided to start her own blog!

[Remember Jess' awesome dance moves in this post?]

She just started it yesterday so obviously it’s still a work in progress, but stop by and check it out! She’s calling it See Jess BLANK since her blog will cover every aspect of her life (i.e. See Jess Cook, See Jess Run, See Jess Shop, etc.) Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, stop by and check her out!

You can also look forward to a guest post from my friend Catrina, who I have talked about as an amazing inspiration to me during my weight loss journey.

[Catrina and me when she came to visit this weekend]

And I have a few posts lined up from some other bloggers around the web, so it should be a fun time! Yay!

Bootcamp

I have to be honest that Bootcamp has not been that high of a priority for me this week. I guess that’s sort of an overstatement, since I only missed one day, but I feel like my heart and my mind haven’t been that into it this week. It’s like yes, I still have completed 3 out of the 4 workouts so far this week, but I haven’t been as excited to complete them and crawling out of bed in the morning has been ~~difficult~~ torture.

I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have been so crazy at work (hence the reason I’m posting so late) and my brain just can’t really handle much more. I really enjoyed my three mile run the other day because I could just run and not have to have to use my brain too much (no thinking- what move comes next? has it been 5 minutes on the treadmill yet? do I have my weights for my next move? where is the incline bench? etc.) When I was running it was just that. Running.

My brain is just too tired this week, as crazy as that sounds. I need as much time as possible to turn it off. To relax. And if that means skipping a superset from the bootcamp and going for another run, I’m ok with that. Like I said on Tuesday, this has to work for me.

Recipe

Despite being so exhausted this week, I have been able to get some pretty good eats in! It didn’t happen intentionally (I mean I wasn’t trying to eat bad food, but I wasn’t trying to be fancy either) but it actually turned out great!

On Tuesday, I was browsing through the kitchen to see what I had available and I eyed a sweet potato that was on its last legs. I thought how delicious an Asian sweet & spicy sweet potato and chicken dish would be, and turned to the Internet for inspiration (is that a weird combination to be inspired by? sweet potato and chicken? whatever.) I came across a few recipes and got some vague ideas for what I wanted to make, and got to work.

First, I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa under running water, and then added it to a pot with 1/2 cup water. I then brought the quinoa to a boil, and covered it and turned down the heat to low. Then I let the quinoa do its thang.

Next I chopped my sweet potato into bite-size pieces, and added them to a pot full of boiling water.

I let them cook for about 10 minutes, then drained them and set them aside.

While the sweet potatoes were cooking, I grilled some chicken on the George Foreman. I forgot to take a picture because I’m a scatter brain, but you’ve all seen chicken plopped on a GF grill so I promise you’re not missin’ anything. Once it was done cooking, I chopped the chicken into bite-size bits.

Then I got the sauce ready. For my sauce I gathered garlic, soy sauce, honey, and siracha hot sauce.

Then I added all the ingredients to a sauce pan and added 1/4 cup of water to give the sauce more of a base. I also spontaneously decided to add a few crushed red pepper flakes for extra heat. Yum. Then I brought the sauce to a simmer and let it reduce down for about five minutes.

Once it had thickened up a bit on its own, I dissolved 1/4 tsp. of corn starch into 1/2 tsp. of water, and slowly whisked it into the sauce.

Once the sauce was nice and thick, I added in the chicken, sweet potato, and a 1/2 cup of mango I had dethawed from the freezer.

Then I let the chicken, mango, and sweet potato get nice and happy and I finished up the quinoa.

When it only had a few minutes left to cook, I dropped some spinach into the pot and covered it back up with the lid. This wilted the spinach just a little bit (just the way I like it).

When the quinoa was fluffy, the spinach was wilted, and everything was warmed through in the sauce, it was time to plate!

I started with my quinoa and spinach…

And then doled out some of the chicken mixture on top!

The spicy sweet combo of the chicken, mangoes, and sweet potatoes was amazing. I loved the heat from the red pepper flakes and siracha sauce. So good!

Plus the sauce gets nice and thick and is seriously reminiscent of take-out Chinese food, but is much better for you without any crazy sodium or mystery MSG, whatever that stuff is.

So good!

Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 1

A great weeknight meal made with delicious spicy and sweet Asian flavors

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water for quinoa
1 handful baby spinach
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. water, for dissolving
1/2 cup sweet potatoes, chopped and cooked
1/2 mangoes (fresh or dethawed) chopped

Instructions

Rinse quinoa under running water. Cook according to package directions. When quinoa is almost done cooking, add spinach and allow to steam for about 3 minutes.
Add water, soy sauce, garlic, honey, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes to a sauce pan. Whisk to combine.
Bring to a simmer and let reduce for about 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, dissolve corn starch in water and slowly add to sauce, stirring constantly. If the sauce doesn’t become thick, repeat.
Add in chopped chicken, sweet potatoes, and mangoes. Cook for about five more minutes, until everything is warmed through.
Remove quinoa and spinach to a bowl, top with a spoonful of chicken mixture.

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So tell me, have you accidentally made any really delicious meals lately? This one was a really good one and will be seen around here a lot more often, now that I know how tasty and easy it was. Seriously, that spicy/sweet combo is just amazing! Yumm.

Mexican Veggie Quinoa

Recipes 2 Responses »

May 172012

Hey people! Happy Thursday!! I always feel so drained on Wednesdays, but when Thursday comes around I’m picked right back up again! I think I spend too much energy on Mondays and Tuesdays trying to get a million things done and then by Wednesday I’m just beat. Oh well, now it’s almost the weekend and I have some fun plans in my future so I’m definitely in a good mood.

Workout

My workouts for the last two days have been fantastic! Yesterday morning I went for my run with Jack and then did Insanity afterwords. During our run, I ran into one of my coworkers and I stopped to chat. Jack, however, was not feeling the pause and kept pulling me to continue. He has so much energy! Eventually I said bye to my friend and we quickly ran off again. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm out. It was a great morning and pumped me up for the day!

Then yesterday afternoon, Jack, Fabio, and I ran up to the dog park (1 mile) and walked him home (it was hot and we worried Jack would be too tired. It had nothing to do with the free pizza sample we got ). It was a great workout indeed!

Today’s workout has been good so far, I had another fun run with Jack this morning (we saw lots of baby bunnies!) and then did Insanity after. Now I’m happy because if I feel like working out later I can, but there’s no pressure! It’s a good feeling.

Recipe

So I have teased you guys a couple of times now about this Mexican Veggie Quinoa. Well today I am finally giving you guys the recipe! Hooray!

I served this side dish with my fish tacos and I really loved that it packed a ton of flavor and included a good variety of veggies. I usually find that I’m a carb-loving girl by nature (bring on the pasta, rice, and potatoes!) so whenever I can get some extra veggies in with my carbs I am a happy camper! This side dish was super simple and tasty, so try it out! Here’s how I made it…

First I cooked the quinoa according to the package directions, but used slightly less water. I’ve said this before, but I think it deserves repeating. When I used to make quinoa with 1 part dry quinoa 2 parts water, it would always come out mushy. Now I use 1 part quinoa to 1.5 parts water and it comes out fluffy every time. I think this is probably because I rinse the quinoa first to remove the bitter taste, and that extra water was enough to make it mushy. That’s my theory, anyway! While the quinoa was cooking, I reheated some corn that I had left over from my Chicken Burrito Bowl in a small skillet.

While the corn was warming, I steamed some broccoli. When it was ready I mixed it in with the corn. When both veggies were heated through, I added some Mexican salsa to the mix.

Then I stirred in the cooked quinoa until everything was combined.

It was delicious! This side dish came together so fast and was incredibly easy to put together. The spicy salsa gave the veggies and the quinoa a good tomatoey kick and I loved it! If you’re looking for a healthy and filling side dish to accompany your Mexican meal, this is it!

Mexican Veggie Quinoa

Makes two large servings

Ingredients

½ cup dry quinoa
1 ½ cup water
½ cup corn kernels (could use more or less, depending on what you have available)
1 head of broccoli, chopped into smaller florets
¼ cup salsa

Instructions

Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, warm corn kernels in a skillet (you could add butter or oil but I chose to omit).
Steam broccoli until tender-crisp, and mix in with corn.
Add salsa and stir to combine.
When quinoa is cooked and fluffy, mix it in with salsa veggie mixture.

Eat, and enjoy!

I always have a hard time thinking of side dishes to accompany meals. Chicken by itself is just so boring, so I try to liven things up with my side dishes. This was one that I thought was really flavorful without being too strenuous to pull together.

What are your favorite side dishes? Do you usually eat side dishes or do you just mix all your flavors together in a big bowl? My mouth gets bored if I eat too much of one flavor, so I love having other items on my plate to switch to!

Quinoa with Basil and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Recipes 3 Responses »

May 082012

Yesterday I was bitten by the skinny bug. Yep, the little sucker snuck up behind me and just when I was feeling really happy maintaining my healthy weight, the skinny bug reminded me that Memorial Day Weekend is rapidly approaching and although my weight is fine right now, my body could look a little better in a bikini. Ok it could look a lot better. I might have some strong abs from so many days of doing crazy Insanity circuits, but if they’re under a layer of flab no one is going to see them. So, I decided that while maintaining a healthy weight has been fine for a while, it’s time to kick my butt back into high gear and get back into bikini-body shape. Oh joy.

Workout

To go along with this new bikini-ready goal, I kicked up today’s workout to another level. First I ran with Jack in the morning and we knocked out our usual mile in no time. Since I am now waking up earlier to exercise, I decided to do an Insanity warm-up from month two after our jog. The month two DVDs are much harder than month one, and the warm-up is a really great way to get my heart rate skyrocketing in a short time. It was hard!

Then after work I did the rest of the Insanity month two DVD and then used my ankle weights to do some strength exercises. Phew! What an intense day. I wish I could tell you how many calories I burned during this evening’s workout, but when I looked down at my heart rate monitor halfway through I realized I forget to press start. Ugh!! Oh well, based on my other days I can guess that I probably burned around 400 calories. Not bad at all!

In between all of that Fabio and I took Jack to the dog park and I brought my new camera. I was experimenting with the settings while Jack played tug-of-war with his friend Oreo and his favorite purple ball.

Jack is obsessed with that purple ball and we always have to wrestle it out of his mouth when it’s time to leave. One time he willingly dropped it on the ground and Fabio and I were shocked, until he lifted his leg and officially “claimed it.” Clearly my dog has impeccable manners. Oops.

Recipe

Tonight’s quinoa recipe isn’t a recipe so much as a tasty combination of flavors that I enjoyed. One thing I love about eating quinoa (and rice, for that matter) is that you can add any flavors you like and it never has to taste the same. There is so much you can do with quinoa! And although I already have two quinoa recipes on this blog, I’m sure that the longer this blog is around (it’s only been 3.5 weeks since I started it!) the more quinoa combinations I’ll acquire for my repertoire. Mmm lots of quinoa? Yes please. Load up the health benefits and yummy grains please!

For tonight’s quinoa, I first rinsed the grains under running water until it was no longer murky. Then I added the quinoa to a pot with some water and brought it to a boil. When it was bubbling nicely, I covered the pot and reduced the heat to low and cooked the quinoa for about 15 minutes until it was fluffy.

While it was cooking I chopped some basil from my basil plant. By the way, I always talk about my basil and cilantro plants that I got from a farmer’s market near me, but I’ve never included a picture of them! Well, here’s a picture as of yesterday so you can see how big they are. These pictures were taken after I plucked a bunch of leaves off of both. Sheesh!

Now you know why I’m always trying to cook with cilantro and basil. There’s so much of it around here!

Anyway, I plucked some leaves from my basil plant a chopped them up so I could add them into the quinoa.

I also took some sun-dried tomatoes (the kind in a packet, not in oil) and let them soak in some hot water for about 5 minutes to reconstitute them a little. Then I chopped these too and waited for the quinoa to finish cooking so I could add them in with the basil.

When the quinoa was nice and fluffy I dumped in some minced garlic (from a jar), the chopped basil, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

I mixed everything up and then seasoned the quinoa with some salt and red pepper flakes for extra flavor. I served the quinoa along side of some roasted veggies and chicken breasts cooked in tomato sauce.

It was quite a tasty dinner!

Quinoa with Basil and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Makes 2 large servings

Ingredients

2/3 cup dry quinoa
1 1/3 cup water
1 bunch basil, chopped
4 small sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

Rinse quinoa until water runs clear. Add to a pot with water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat, cooking until quinoa is tender and fluffy.
Chop basil into small pieces, set aside.
Add tomatoes to a small bowl with hot water and allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until they start to regain some moisture (skip this step if using sun-dried tomatoes packaged in oil). Once tomatoes are soft, chop into same size pieces as the basil.
When quinoa has finished cooking stir in basil, tomatoes, salt, and pepper flakes.

I really liked this flavor combination because it had a great Italian taste without being too heavy. It was a perfect light summer side dish. Try it out!

Now for today’s questions: Do you ever get bitten by the skinny bug? How do you balance maintaining a healthy weight and deciding to lose more? I feel like I always want to be a little thinner, but I only get super motivated every now and then and the rest of the time I’m on maintenance mode. But, you gotta do what works for you!

Sweet Corn & Quinoa

Recipes 6 Responses »

May 012012

Good afternoon blog world! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Today I want to share the recipe for the quinoa side dish that I had with yesterday’s dinner. For this dish, quinoa is mixed in a honey lemon vinaigrette with sweet corn. The flavors are sweet yet savory at the same time and had me practically licking my plate for more. Luckily the recipe made enough for leftovers so you can bet we are having more tonight! Win!

Recipe

I originally saw this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats. If you’ve never been to her site I highly recommend it. She is always making simple and delicious meals that inspire me to run into the kitchen. No literally. I’ve done that before after reading her blog.

Anyway, we had some fresh corn in the fridge that needed to be used up so last night I decided to give this side dish a try. It was super easy and had great flavors and will definitely be a new staple in my kitchen.

To get started I rinsed 1 cup of quinoa under the tap until the water ran clear. Then I added the quinoa to a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of water and brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling I lowered the heat and covered it to let it cook for about 15 minutes.

Note: Most recipes will tell you to use 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, but I read somewhere that the way to get fluffy quinoa is to use 1 part quinoa to 1 1/2 parts water, especially if you are rinsing the quinoa in water first. This makes total sense to me, and my quinoa that used to be soggy now comes out fluffy every time. Try it out next time you make quinoa and let me know how it goes!

While the quinoa cooked, I whisked together lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. This mixture would be the vinaigrette for my quinoa.

Once the vinaigrette was combined, I chopped the kernels off of my corn and added them to a large skillet with a little bit of butter and green onions. I cooked the corn for about 4 minutes until it was tender and then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Once the quinoa was finished cooking I added to the pan with the corn and tossed in the vinaigrette. I mixed everything up until it was well combined.

Once everything was warmed through I served it along size of my Shredded Latin Chicken and enjoyed it with some zucchini. As I mentioned before this recipe makes a lot so I’ll be having leftovers tonight. Yum!!

Sweet Corn & Quinoa (Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Ingredients

1 cup dry quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp. butter (I used Brummel & Brown)
2 green onions, sliced
2 ears sweet corn
salt and pepper

For the Vinaigrette

2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
lemon zest (I didn’t have any on hand so I omitted)

Directions

Rinse quinoa under running water in a mesh sieve until water runs clear. Combine with water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then place a lid on top and cook until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is fluffy, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the honey lemon vinaigrette in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions and sweet corn and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes or until corn is tender.
Add in cooked quinoa and honey lemon vinaigrette, then toss thoroughly to combine.

Serve and enjoy!

This recipe was one of my favorites and the flavors are fresh and summery. What are some of your favorite summer recipes? Do you do anything creative with sweet corn?

Quinoa Mac and Cheese Cakes

Recipes No Responses »

Apr 182012

Do you ever have those days where you just feel exhausted? When the thought of working out makes you cringe and you’d much rather curl up in your bed and call it a day? Well today was one of those days for me. I had a rough day at work and didn’t leave until late, so by the time I got home I did not want to work out. However, I have a few tips and tricks that I usually use to motivate myself and get my butt in gear. So I sucked it up, tied up my sneakers, and headed out the door. Today reminded me how hard it can be sometimes to just work out and I want to share my tips with you about how to move past it and, as Nike says, just do it.

Workout

Today’s workout was identical to yesterday’s; it began with a 1-mile jog in the morning and then in the afternoon included a jog to and from the dark park (1 mile each way) and an Insanity warm-up.

The morning run was a breeze, mostly because the weather has been gorgeous! When the sun shines through the window and the weather report promises warm temperatures, I am way happier getting out from under the covers. We saw a few bunnies on our run as usual, and of course Jack went nuts trying to chase them. He also had fun rolling around with another dog for about five minutes. It got him nice and tired and I was not complaining! The run was just enough to wake me up and get me ready for the day. Good thing too; it was a tough day!

The trouble started when I got home from work. I was cranky and tired and just wanted to relax. However after a few minutes of talking to Fabio and playing with Jack, I knew I had to just suck it up and work out. Here are some things I kept in mind to help motivate me:

Summer is coming and I’ll need to be bikini-ready
I always feel great once I actually start exercising
I would feel guilty eating peanut butter banana bread for dessert if I didn’t work out
Biggest Loser was coming on at 8:00 and those contestants always motivate me to work out
I could take it as easy or as slow as I wanted to; as long as I exercised I didn’t care about the speed
If I didn’t work out I’d be letting myself down and would feel horrible about it all night

That last bullet is the one that really got me moving. All I had to do was think of how disappointed I’d be in myself all night and and soon I was on my feet. It just wasn’t worth it to me to enjoy an extra 30 minutes of relaxing when I could be working towards my health and fitness goals. I was out the door and on my way to the dog park in no time.

Today I remembered to wear my heart rate monitor during my entire afternoon workout. This shows my heart rate during my jogs and the warm-up for Insanity (these don’t show my morning jog). Burning 311 calories in half an hour wasn’t too bad; neither was reaching a maximum heart rate of 186 or an average heart rate of 155. I’d say those numbers are pretty good for me. After today, I was just happy I could get myself to do something.

Recipe

Dinner today came together in just a few minutes! We had broiled chicken, brussels sprouts, a small tomato salad, and quinoa mac and cheese cakes!

First I’ll explain the chicken, brussels sprouts, and salad quickly.

For the chicken I set the oven to broil and let it get nice and hot. Then I defrosted some boneless skinless breasts that we keep in the freezer (and eat all the time) and seasoned them with salt and pepper. I placed them on a rack on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil (for easy clean up). Then the chicken went into the hot oven. I cooked the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, I mixed up about some honey mustard, white-wine vinegar, and paprika in a separate bowl. I used Honey Cup brand honey mustard because it is SO good. Like seriously. You must try this honey mustard. I want to dive into it like a pool. Anyway, I digress! When the chicken was almost done, I brushed both sides with the honey mustard mixture and let it cook for about 1 more minute in the oven. The honey mustard turned into a glaze and gave the chicken tons of good flavor. It was delicious.

For the brussels sprouts I cut the sprouts in half length-wise and tossed them in some olive oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Then I heated up a pan on the stovetop and transferred the seasoned sprouts to the pan. I cooked the sprouts for about 10 minutes, tossing now and then so they didn’t burn. They are so simple and so tasty, definitely one of my favorite side dishes.

While I was cooking the chicken and brussels sprouts, Fabio decided to whip up his own side dish! I believe his words were something like, “I want to make the blog too!” Ok Fabs, thanks for your help. Your salad was delicious! He sliced up some tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese and piled them into a nice small salad to accompany our meal. He topped with salt and pepper. It really was delicious.

Lastly I made quinoa mac and cheese cakes! YUM!! These were so delicious you wouldn’t believe that they are good for you. Last week I made some Quinoa Mac and Cheese adapted from Around the Table. I will definitely have to repeat this recipe and share it with you guys! It involves the incredibly healthy grain quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) and other decadent comfort food ingredients like cheddar cheese and garlic. It was so good and luckily made enough for leftovers. Yay! I decided instead of reheating the mac and cheese in the microwave, I wanted to do something a little different with it. This how I invented the Quinoa Mac and Cheese Cakes!

First I started out with my leftover quinoa mac and cheese. I stirred it all up so it was combined evenly.

Meanwhile, I heated a hot griddle pan on the stovetop. I sprayed the pan with my Misto olive oil sprayer. If you don’t have one of these I highly recommend investing in one. They only cost a couple dollars and allow you to control how much oil you put on your food. I bought mine at TJ Maxx for like $3. Definitely a great investment.

Then I formed the mac and cheese mixture into “cakes” and cooked them on the hot pan. They didn’t stick together as well as I would have liked so next time I may add an egg into the mixture. However, they did crisp up nicely and retained all of their cheesy delicious flavor from the first time we ate them. These cakes were awesome and I will definitely make them again!

Here’s a picture of my whole dinner:

Yummmmm!! Now it’s time to go relax from this looong day. Thank God!

Questions

The link I provided above explaining the health benefits of quinoa is from WedMD. Personally I love getting my health information from that site. They have so many helpful resources. What cool things have you learned from WedMD? Have any good quinoa recipes? I’d love to try some!