WIAW: Quick, Simple, and Healthy

Happy Wednesday!

First, I have some good news – if you follow me on Twitter, you know I went to the doctor yesterday to see if I have plantar fasciitis or a stress fracture. After waiting 90 minutes to see a doctor (a whole ‘nother story!), she told me I have plantar fasciitis and should go to physical therapy. So, I see that as good news, though I’m still not thrilled that I have to take it easy and lower my mileage.

Since it’s Wednesday, I’m linking up with Jenn’s WIAW party. Be sure to check out everyone else’s tasty meals as well!

First off…I’m back in to loving avocados lately!

Since I stayed with Charlie for the past four days, I had to be creative about meals. I didn’t want to go full out grocery shopping and wanted meals to be quick, easy, and mostly healthy. This is a pinto bean and shredded cheese quesadilla, topped with mashed avocado.

And a corn salsa and chipotle tabasco sauce quesadilla. Loved the chipotle tabasco sauce – smokey with a bit of spice!

Remember last week I made venison burgers? This is a leftover venison burger, topped with Hatch Pepper cheese, eaten in a tortilla covered with mashed avocado and corn salsa. Yum!

And you know I love breakfast…

Typical breakfast for me. Chobani Coconut yogurt, topped with strawberries and blueberries. Coffee on the side, of course!

Note: I used a french press to make coffee all weekend and OH. MY. GOD. I’m seriously debating trading out my Keurig for a french press, that’s how good the coffee was!

And have you ever tried making dark chocolate peanut butter and strawberry jam pancakes? Winner!

I think I told you how I’ve been really into tea lately? Yup, still am. Loving Bigelow’s French Vanilla! Perfect after dinner treat!

Finally, life isn’t complete without ice cream on a cold day. And I had to share with my best bud (don’t worry, he only licked the empty container!).

Yum – it’s been a tasty week! I’m thinking tonight I might try to do an easy run – I took two days off and would like to make sure I’m keeping up with training, just at a slower pace. We’ll see!

I’m also looking forward to connecting with my fellow Girls on the Run coaches to plan the season tonight! I’m planning to share more about GOTR tomorrow, so if you’ve ever wondered about the organization, hopefully this will help (and inspire you to coach?!).

Your Turn!

• When you’re not at home, what are your quick and easy go-to meals?
• Do you give your dog people food? I know I’m not supposed to, but Charlie loves having a taste of ice cream and greek yogurt!

Looking to connect with Racing Bananas even more (yeah, you are!):

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WIAW – Fruit and Veggie Edition!

Happy, Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a good week and staying cool. I, for one, am over this whole humidity thing. Fall, where are you?!

Anyways.

It’s Wednesday which means I’m linking up with Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday! Here we go!

   

Check out all of this yogurt! And honestly, this isn’t even the half of it. My morning meals have been mostly the same. Chobani Greek Yogurt, mixed with flax seed, and fruit. I’ve been LOVING blackberries lately, but blueberries, strawberries, apples, and pears have made repeat appearances as well!

Check out this leftover Roasted Veggie and Goat Cheese sammie from the Craftsman Tavern. Yum!

New creation! Whole wheat toast, fried egg, lettuce, cheese, and salsa. Tasty, tasty! I ate it twice, on different days.

Left – a summertime drink from the Great Dane; Right – My morning coffee!

 

Lunchtime = salad! I’ve really been digging cottage cheese on my salads. This is lettuce, tomato, chicken, orange bell peppers, and cottage cheese.

 

And more salad! Yum! Got a little crazy and sliced some avocado for my salad on the right!

My week wouldn’t be complete without fro-yo.

Or homemade ice cream! Frozen bananas, blended with PB2. Then to indulgent, I melted a few Reeses Peanut Butter cups and mixed. OMG. YUM. No words!

Mmmm, it’s been a pretty tasty week! I’m actually heading back to housesit today-Sunday, so you’ll probably being seeing more pictures of yummy creations. Maybe I’ll venture beyond yogurt and fruit for breakfast! Feel free to follow me on Instagram to what yummy creations I try to make!

Your Turn!

• Any food you’ve really been digging this week?
• What’s your favorite indulgence?

Foodie Pen Pals – The Reveal!

It’s Friday!!!!! This week has been a whirlwind for me and I am glad it’s over. Today is my last day with Charlie (which I’m incredibly sad about) and tomorrow is my big move! Hopefully it goes quickly and smoothly…I can only hope!

But enough about me…today is all about the Food Pen Pals reveal!

Thanks to Lindsay over at the Lean Green Bean for organizing this great link up! Each month, Lindsay compiles a list of interested people who would like to connect with another person and exchange a box of food – hence the name, Food Pen Pals!

This month, I received my box from Jess, a lovely lady from Kentucky. Jess sent me a box full of delicious, local Kentucky delicacies. I have to say, I was so surprised and satisfied with everything in the box. Thanks Jess!

The first thing I dug in to was this cookie from Sage, a local health food restaurant. A chocolate chip cookie dipped in chocolate? Yes, please!

Next, I tried the Ale 81, which is made in KY! It tasted a lot like ginger ale, but a tad sweeter. It was the perfect drink for a humid night! Very refreshing!

Then there was the Kentucky dark chocolate bar…that didn’t last long either!

To continue with the chocolate theme, Jess also packed me a box of milk chocolate bourbon balls. I’m going to be honest here…I polished this box off in one afternoon at work. What can I say – I have a sweet tooth and just couldn’t control myself!

And then there was the Bourbon Brittle. OH. MY. GAWD. There are no words for how amazing this is! The sweetness of the brittle paired with the taste of bourbon may be one of the most magical things I’ve ever tasted. EVER.

I forgot to take an individual picture of this next one – All Natural Chocolate Coconut Good Greens bar, since I devoured it at work one morning (whoops!) This bar has 100% of my daily fruits and vegetables. For being a “healthy” bar, it definitely tasted like a treat!

Jess also sent me a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon sauce. I haven’t tried this out yet (with traveling and preparing to move, I haven’t done a lot of home cooking), but am hoping to try it out next week. I will definitely let you know how it tastes. If it’s anything like the rest of the box, I’m sure it will be great!

I have to say, my first month in Food Pen Pals was a wild success. Thanks again Jess, for sending such a thoughtful and tasty box!

If you’re interested in joining Food Pen Pals, head on over to the Lean Green Bean to sign up for June’s swap!

WIAW | Back Home Eats & Treats

Happy Wednesday all! As usual, I’m linking up with the What I Ate Wednesday party that Jenn over at Peas and Crayons hosts. Thanks Jenn!

This past weekend, I headed on down to Milwaukee to spend the weekend with family and friends. Since I didn’t share a lot about my trip, I thought I would mix in my weekend recap with my WIAW, since I ate pretty good at home! So here is goes!

On Friday, I got home in the early afternoon and ran some errands (oil change, Targe binge, the usual!). After errands and catching up with my family, Jessi headed on over so we could grab dinner and see our friend, Joel, in the play “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” For dinner, we headed to Chili’s for margaritas and food, which is our tradition since grad school. I had a mango margarita and the spicy shrimp tacos. The tacos definitely had a bite…yum!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early (thanks for that, Charlie!) and shared a cup of coffee with my dad. Since we are early birds, we made a delicious breakfast just for us. First, I roasted a few red potatoes, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parsley, in the oven. When the potatoes were just about done, I began to sauté onions, celery, and a red pepper on the stove. When the onions were ready, I added the eggs to make a fritatta. I topped it off with pepper jack cheese and the potatoes…YUM! It was a tasty breakfast!

Saturday night I helped my dad prepare dinner for the family. I was in charge of the salad and made my go-to salad: spinach, strawberries, walnuts, and blue cheese. Mmmm. We also had chicken wings BBQed on the grill and corn on the cob (not pictured, I was too excited to dig in!). For dessert, my mom made a Heath Bar cake. Wow. Just wow. It’s so moist and flavorful. It’s not even a little in line with healthy eating, but small indulgences are ok (and encouraged!).

On Sunday, my family and I packed in the car and headed down to Chicago. My  grandma turned 75 this week, so her family and friends gathered at La Hacienda, a local Mexican restaurant. Both the company and the eats were fantastic! For lunch, we had a buffet – Mexican rice, refried beans, chicken taquitos, steak tacos, and cheese enchiladas. Yum! I taste tested a bit of everything and was so surprised by how good it was! I also paired lunch with a pomegranate margarita.

As you can see, I definitely indulged more than my fair share this weekend! So, on Tuesday morning I started back on track. Vanille Greek yogurt, with strawberries, cherries, almonds, and a bit of honey. Tasty, filling, a great way to start my crazy week!

Your Turn:

• Do you find you “indulge” on the weekends? What’s your favorite treat to have?

WIAW – Guilty Pleasure Edition!

Happy Wednesday! As usual, thanks to Jen at Peas and Crayons for hosting WIAW!

This week, to keep things interesting, I thought I would focus on some of my guilty pleasure foods. I don’t love the phrase “guilty pleasures” because it implies guilt when eating certain foods, and I’m trying to move away from that. That being said, I think you get what I mean 🙂

Grilled Cheese. Probably one of my favorite foods of all time. So delicious and versatile. This weekend, I made this grilled cheese – fresh sour dough bread with a mixture of swiss and chipotle gouda cheese. It was mind-blowing. Seriously.

Hot Dogs. I love hot dogs. Too much. I like eating them on a bun and I like cutting them up and dipping them in ketchup and mustard. I also love venison hot dogs, which is what this is a picture of. Can’t even tell, right?

Hot Dogs…again. I’m also obsessed with hot dogs from Portillo’s. Loaded with everything (including hot peppers!). You could call it an obsession…and you’d probably be right. Especially with a side of cheese fries. Not healthy at all, but there are no Portillo’s in Wisconsin, so it’s a very infrequent treat!

Melted Chocolate and Peanut Butter. OMG.This is my go-to, totally yummy and tad obnoxious snack. This is once in a while snack, which makes it all the better. To make? Combine some peanut butter (or other nut butter) and chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate). Put in microwave and nuke for 1 minute at 50% power or until chocolate chips are melted. You won’t be disappointed…

Popcorn. Mmmm. I had air popped (must be air popped, in a popcorn maker) popcorn last night. I like it plain or sprinkled with salt and parmesan cheese. Yummy, filling, and fairly healthy (if you do not load it with butter!).

Anything topped with goat cheese. Guys, I’m obsessed with goat cheese. Like go through a mini-tub a week. This is my Tuesday breakfast – two scrambled eggs, with spinach, tomato, and goat cheese, on a whole wheat tortilla.

Starbucks. Extra hot, chai latte. Enough said.

Cookie Butter. If you have not tried this, drop everything you’re doing, run to Trader Joe’s, and buy this unique spread. You’ll probably eat the jar in two sittings, using only your finger, and like me, vow to never buy it again. But it’s something you have to try at least once!

Self Magazine, Drop 10 Update…

I’ve finished up my first week of the Self Magazine Drop 10 program. To be honest, I’m having a tough time with it. Psychologically, I have a very hard time following a food plan. I’m not sure why, but having every meal and snack planned everyday feels very constricting and then I end up binging at night. Not healthy for me, physically or emotionally. At this point, I’m not sure how to proceed…should I keep doing it? Or should I go back to a plan that I know works for me? Decisions, decisions!

I did need to take updated pictures of myself this week, and I will say, I’m happy with my overall weight loss progress (over the past 18 months, not just the last week!). Slowly but surely, I’m getting to where I want to be!

Your Turn!

• What are your “guilty pleasure” foods?

Pistachio-Crusted Salmon

Happy Thursday!

Last Friday, my aunt and I went through Fitness Magazine to find a healthy, delicious recipe for dinner. After a little discussion, we decided on the Pistachio-Crusted Salmon. It was so good that I had to share the recipe!

The Dijon mustard and orange zest dressing.

The salmon before it went in the oven…

And after! Yes, it tasted just as good as it looks! Success!

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup unsalted shelled pistachios, finely chopped
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons orange zest*
• 1 tablespoon orange juice*
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 6 ounces skin-on salmon fillets**
• 2 bunches spring onions or scallions, trimmed
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Orange wedges (optional)

*We didn’t exactly measure the orange zest, so our salmon was veeery orangey. Even though it’s probably common sense, I highly recommend measuring your orange zest and juice!

**The recipe says to use skin-on salmon fillets. My aunt did not have skin on salmon fillets, but the salmon turned out just fine.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees  and lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Place pistachios in a shallow dish.

3. In a small bowl, stir together mustard, orange zest, orange juice, salt and pepper. Brush mixture onto flesh side of salmon and press salmon into pistachios. Place salmon skin side down on baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes; transfer to a plate.

3. Preheat the broiler to high. Place onions on a clean rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Broil until brown and beginning to wilt, 2 to 4 minutes. Serve salmon with onions and, if desired, orange wedges.

Other things to consider…

Consider eating with a freshly made loaf of french bread.

Yes, my uncle makes fresh bread every day.Thank god I don’t live there or I would be eating it everyday!

We had with a side of veggies – asparagus and peppers. Went perfectly with the salmon!

Your turn!

• Have you tried any new recipes lately? How did they turn out?