Asiago Cheese Pasta Bowl

Sep 112012

Hello there! I cannot tell you all how I am excited I am to be back on my regular blogging schedule. Writing those Rome recaps was fun but man, they were exhausting! Each one included so many pictures and descriptions that they were all really long which, of course, meant they took forever to write. Thank you all for bearing with me on those and for sharing your wonderful comments

In case you missed any of the recaps, I have linked to them all below:

Rome Recaps

So now that my trip to Rome is 100% over, let’s switch topics and get back to what this blog is really about…living a healthy lifestyle!

Workout

I have noticed that since I came back from vacation I have felt a bit more…pudgy than I was before I left. Nothing serious, but my shorts felt a little snugger and there was a number on the scale that was 3-4 pounds higher than it was before I left. Not good. Because of this, I’ve decided I need to really step up my workouts.

Before I left, I was following Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp program. While I like the program a lot, I feel like it may not be exactly perfect for me with my goals right now. I understand the importance of combining cardio with strength training in order to boost your metabolism, however I really like circuit workouts that can combine the two in one, instead of having them be separated in a workout.

For example, Tina’s workouts would often suggest some type of cardio (which for me would usually be running although sometimes I used the elliptical or bike) followed by a strength training circuit. However, my favorite workouts keep my heart rate pounding the entire time and when I leave I feel sweaty and exhausted and know that I got a great workout. Sometimes at the end of Tina’s workouts my heart rate would have come back down from the cardio and I felt sort of disappointed that I wasn’t breaking a sweat throughout the whole workout. I think this just has to do with me and the type of workouts I like best right now.

So, with all that said, I think I will be moving back to my Insanity DVD workouts.

[Source]

They are great HIIT circuits that combine strength with cardio in the same circuit, so that in between your pushups and tricep dips you will be doing burpees and jumping jacks, for example. I did also buy a new Inanity DVD which only lasts 20 minutes (called Fast and Furious and will probably kill me) which will be perfect for the mornings where I still want to run a mile or two with Jack and then do a short burst of Insanity after.

[Source]

So that’s where I am with my fitness right now and I plan to really kick up my workouts. It’s kind of a change for me so I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions!

Recipe

In addition to talking about my exercise goals I am so excited to share a recipe with you guys! I feel like it has been forever since I made anything new and I was so happy to come up with this yummy creation last night.

I was inspired by three main ingredients which I brought back with me from Italy.

First I have a small bottle of olive oil that was given to my mom and me (yes that’s proper English) when we ate lunch at La Posta Vecchia. The olive oil there was like nothing I ever tasted and had so much flavor. It made our American olive oil seem like a joke. They were so kind to give us two small bottles after we couldn’t stop raving about it at the restaurant, and clearly I couldn’t wait to give it a try.

Next was two large chunks (sorry Megan) of cheese- asiago and parmesan. Obviously I’ve had parmesan cheese before in plenty of dishes but I have only ever had asiago cheese in a bagel from Panera Bread, which doesn’t exactly showcase its delicious flavors lol. So for dinner last night I decided to whip up something delicious that would incorporate all three ingredients. I came up with an Asiago Cheese Pasta Bowl!

Made with whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, parmesan, and asiago cheese, this dish is pretty healthy and delicious! Plus, as they say, what grows together goes together (and by they, I mean Dani Spies! haha love her).

Anyway, here’s how the dish came together.

First I set a large pot of water to boil over high heat. I added a good pinch of Kosher salt and then added my pasta. I used whole wheat penne, but you can use whatever you have around.

While the pasta was cooking, I grilled a boneless skinless chicken breast (straight from the freezer!) on the George Foreman grill. I didn’t have any chicken in my pasta bowl, but I knew Fabio, being the meat-chomping carnivore that he is, would want some meat in his dish.

I seasoned the chicken breast with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of basil and garlic spices.

While the chicken and the pasta were cooking, I got the rest of the ingredients together.

First I sliced a bunch of cherry tomatoes in half, until I had about 1 cup of tomatoes.

Next I minced 2 large cloves of garlic until they were super tiny. I could have used my jar of minced garlic, but I find that the actual cloves give off a lot more flavor and are great in simple dishes like this one.

Once the garlic was minced, I set a large skillet to medium heat and drizzled about 2 tablespoons of the good olive oil into the pan. I added the minced garlic and let it cook until fragrant, about one minute.

Then I added the tomatoes and shredded about 1/4 cup each of parmesan and asiago cheese over the pan. At this point, things were starting to look and smell really good!

Once the cheese started to melt, I added two very large handfuls of spinach to the pan. The spinach wilts down a lot, so I made sure to put in even more than I thought I would need.

By this time my whole wheat pasta was cooked (but still al dente) so I drained it and added it to the pan.

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Sorry, haha.

Then I tossed everything together and added a pinch of salt, pepper, and, my favorite, red pepper flakes. This gives the dish a nice little kick but you can omit if you’d like.

Then it was time to serve! I spooned everything into two large bowls and topped Fabio’s with the chicken, which I had sliced into bite-size pieces.

It was delicious!

Having never tried asiago cheese before (well practically never) I was blown away by how much flavor this dish had. I thought the cheese would tie everything together but I didn’t realize how tangy and delicious it would be. Every time I got a little bite of asiago my taste buds went crazy. It was phenomenal! I highly recommend this easy, relatively healthy, weeknight meal

Asiago Cheese Pasta Bowl

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea Eats Treats

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 2

This easy weeknight meal is made with whole wheat pasta and fresh Italian ingredients like asiago and parmesan cheese, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and olive oil.

Ingredients

Whole wheat penne pasta (enough for two people- I eyeball it)
1 boneless skinless chicken breast (optional)
Salt
Pepper
Basil and Garlic Seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup asiago cheese (or more- eyeball it)
2 large handfuls spinach
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

Salt a large pot of water and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain when pasta is al dente.
Grill chicken and season with salt, pepper, and basil/garlic seasoning.
Set a large pan to medium high heat and drizzle in olive oil.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add tomatoes and cheese.
Add spinach and pasta, toss to combine.
Top with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Serve in a large bowl and top with cooked and sliced chicken.

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So, do you guys ever make spontaneous meals that turn out great? I thought this dish would be delicious but when I was eating it I couldn’t believe how yummy it actually was. Plus it was so easy! I would totally make the same thing again tonight…or maybe for the rest of my life?

That must be the nostalgia from Rome talking

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.

Fruity Spinach Smoothie

Recipes 5 Responses »

Jun 122012

Don’t forget my giveaway for a free slow cooker ends on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Enter while there’s still time!

Good evening everyone! I hope you had a great Tuesday! For my part I was all confused about what day of the week it was. I can’t tell you how many times I thought it was either Wednesday or Thursday. I kept thinking: What, it’s only Tuesday?? Oh yeah. Duh.

In addition to my scatter-brain, I had a rough day because what started off as a small tickle in my throat last week, has turned into a full-blown hacking cough. It’s not only gross, it’s annoying and painful. I think I probably coughed more than 100 times today. I know I exaggerate sometimes, but today I’m telling the truth! It was at least 100 times. Ugh. Plus when I woke up this morning I had a really hard time breathing through all the phlegm. I blame Fabio for this cough since he had something similar last week. Humph. It is not pleasant.

One nice thing did happen to me today though; my pots and pans from the Picky Palate grand prize giveaway that I won finally arrived! Woohoo!

My prizes included:

Set of 2 piece QVC Technique Cast Iron Pans
Flip It Pan
12 inch skillet
Apron coated with Teflon Fabric Protector
$50 Amex Gift Card
“No Whine With Dinner” Cookbook. 150 healthy kid tested recipes (still waiting for this one)

I can’t wait to put them all to use! Especially that $50 gift card Open-mouthed smile Woo!

Workout

Because of this annoying cough I took it easy today on my workout and just ran a mile with Jack in the morning. I also completed a short circuit of pushups, tricep dips, squats, and side leg lifts, but I wanted to avoid too much cardio because of my cough. UGH. Being sick is the worst. At least I got to work on some muscles that are usually ignored in my regular routine..cough triceps cough. Get it? Cough? Sorry. Sick sense of humor I have (ha!).

Recipe

Instead of my normal cereal and milk breakfast combo, I decided to whip up a fresh fruity spinach smoothie. I figured this way I could blast my body with some extra antioxidants to help fight off the cough. My smoothie actually tasted extremely delicious and I felt like I was having sorbet for breakfast! I’m definitely going to have to make more of these even when I’m not sick Smile Here’s how it came together.

First, I combined frozen mango and mixed berries in my blender.

I pulsed these frozen fruits together until they were in smaller, uniform pieces. Then I got the rest of my ingredients together:

Into the blender with the frozen fruits went a banana, skim milk, fat free plain yogurt (which I thought was Greek yogurt when I bought it. I was just so excited by how much cheaper it was! I should have known…), honey, and spinach. I’ve read before that you can’t taste spinach in fruit smoothies but I was still skeptical. I promise that when it all came together I couldn’t taste it a bit! It just tasted like fruity goodness! Anyway, I pulsed all of these ingredients together in the blender until it became a smooth liquid.

The smoothies came out pretty thick so I enjoyed it with a spoon! It was delicious, but it took a while to eat (brain freeze is a killer!) so next time I will thin it out with some more milk. It was so good though!

Yum!

Fruity Spinach Smoothie

Recipe type: Smoothie

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 3 mins

Total time: 3 mins

Serves: 2

This fruit smoothie tastes so sweet and delicious that no one will ever guess there’s spinach in it!

Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (I used blueberries, raspberries, and black berries)
1 banana
3 tbsp. fat free plain yogurt
1 tsp. honey
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup uncooked spinach

Instructions

Add mangoes and berries to blender and pulse until uniform shape and size.
Add rest of ingredients to blender and continue mixing, pushing down ingredients with blender stick if necessary, until smoothie is a smooth liquid.
Pour into a tall glass and enjoy with a straw or spoon.

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So that’s it for my smoothie recipe! Although I still felt under the weather all day, I know those vitamins must have helped a little! So, what do you make for yourself when you’re feeling sick? Last time I was sick I made some lightened-up creamy chicken and rice soup. Now that is a great recipe for when you’re feeling crappy!

Greek-Marinated Chicken

Recipes 4 Responses »

Jun 052012

In case you missed it yesterday, be sure to check out my guest post on a tasty ice cream recipe over at Virginia is for Bloggers!

Hello everyone! I hope your Tuesday is going well. I remember when I was little I used to love Tuesdays because that was usually my day for dance class, gymnastics, or whatever other activity I was enrolled in at the time. Now Tuesdays are a heck of a lot less exciting and just mean Monday is over. Oh well, at least it’s one day closer to the weekend!

Workout

Yesterday I got back into the swing of things by waking up early and going for my one mile run with Jack and completing half of an Insanity DVD before work. Last week I was in a post-Memorial Day slump and just didn’t feel motivated to do Insanity in the morning. This meant my afternoons were a lot crazier because I tried to squeeze in a few extra runs to the dog park, which is fine when I want to run and have plenty of time, but I hate feeling like I have to run because I skipped out on my morning workout. No bueno.

Even after taking one week off from Insanity I started to feel the difference in my muscles and realized the moves were a lot more difficult than they were before I took my little hiatus. I am coming to realize that while breaks from routine might seem nice at the time, I sure do regret it later! I was really happy that I was able to tackle my workout yesterday and I will make sure to stick to my routines from now on. Now more lazy bones!

Recipe

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to today’s recipe! Last night for dinner I had a delicious chicken gyro with tzatziki sauce. It was so flavorful, tasty, and filling! Last time Fabio came home from New York, he brought a huge tub of tzatziki sauce home with him from his favorite Greek place. In case you are unfamiliar with tzatziki, it is a creamy yogurt-based cucumber sauce usually flavored with oregano and lemon juice. This one is always a big hit and I was so happy Fabio brought some home! But then the question arose…what should we do with it? We didn’t have any ground lamb (obviously it’s not something I keep in my fridge) and I wasn’t about to buy a rotisserie, so I decided to marinade some chicken with Greek flavors and use it in a wrap; gyro style! It worked out extremely well and we were both licking our ~~lips~~ fingers during dinner. It was a really simple marinade and would work well with a bunch of different dishes (I’m totally going to make a Greek salad with this chicken next). Here’s how it came together.

First I defrosted two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in a large Ziploc bag along with the marinade. The marinade was made up of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, dried oregano, salt, and pepper.

I added everything to the bag with the chicken and mixed it around so the chicken was evenly coated in the marinade. Then I popped the bag into the fridge for about an hour while I took Jack to the dog park and met up with my friends Britt and Jess.

When I got home, I set the oven to broil and waited for it to heat up. Then I took out the marinated chicken and placed it on a rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet. This chicken would have been really great cooked on the grill as well, but unfortunately with our little apartment we would have to get our grill out of storage and wait for the charcoal to get hot. I was not about to wait around and do all that on a weeknight! The broiler worked out well anyway Then I placed the chicken in the oven and let it broil for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I cut up some small tomatoes and red onion for the gyros!

When the chicken was done cooking, I let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it into bite-size pieces.

Then it was assembly time! First I warmed up two whole-wheat 100-calorie tortillas in the oven (pita would work better probably but I had to use what I had!) and spread them with a thin layer of tzatziki sauce all the way to the ends. Then I topped them with chicken.

Next came the tomatoes.

Then red onion.

And finally, the lettuce and spinach.

By this time, the wraps were huge and I could barely roll them up. It was worth it though for all that spinach! Yum!

Greek-Marinated Chicken

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 1 hour 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 2

This Greek-marinated chicken is perfect for a gyro or Greek salad!

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
2 whole wheat pita or tortilla wraps
3 small tomatoes, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
Generous handful of lettuce/spinach mixture
2 tbsp. tzatziki sauce (store-bought or home-made)

Instructions

Add chicken to a Ziploc bag with next seven ingredients (through black pepper) and mix around to distribute evenly. Store in refrigerator for at least one hour.
Set oven to broil. Remove chicken from bag and place onto grill rack on top of foil-lined cookie sheet. Broil in the oven for about five minutes or until juices run clear.
When chicken is cooked, allow to cool for a few minutes and then slice into bite-size pieces.
Warm tortilla/pita in the oven for a few minutes and then top each with 1 tbsp. tzatziki sauce, chicken, tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce/spinach mixture.
Roll up wraps and enjoy!

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And, that’s it! Pretty simple right? Plus it was definitely delicious and made good use of that tzatziki sauce.

Anyone else have good recipes for tzatziki sauce? I was thinking of trying out a healthier falafel recipe but I’m not sure how it will work out. Let me know if you think of anything creative!