Steak Tacos and Peppers

I have the most amazing boy.  Tonight he made dinner and it was so good!!!  I absolutely love that he shares in the kitchen duties with me.  He offers and he actually seems to enjoy being a better cook than I.

The steak we got from the markets was absolutely amazing.

Here is what we had, perhaps you can enjoy them too!

Shrimp with Avocado-Mango Salsa

Last nights meal was quite interesting to say the least.  I was pretty excited to try some seafood from the markets and what better way then to eat some prawns (shrimp).

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 8 cups baby spinach
• 1 cup couscous
• 1 lb medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 large mango, peeled and diced
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

PREPARATION

1. Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray. Place 2 cups spinach in center of 1 half of each piece of foil. Combine couscous with 1/4 cup water; divide evenly among packets, placing on top of spinach. Combine shrimp, 1/4 cup cilantro, oil and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl. Divide shrimp evenly among packets, placing next to couscous. Fold foil to close and crimp edges to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 10 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro with remaining 1/4 tsp salt, mango, avocado, tomato, onion, jalapeño and lime juice in a bowl. Carefully cut foil to open; stir contents; garnish with salsa before serving.

The skinny

397 calories per serving, 10 g fat (1 g saturated), 52 g carbs, 8 g fiber, 25 g protein

The finished product.

We were a bit nervous about the salsa....of which I didn't eat.  Tim said it was nice and spicy and I (think??) he was pleasantly surprised to note that the salsa wasn't that shabby.   I got the recipe from pintrest via this site.  

It made four servings, so I've given the last two servings to us for lunch over a bed of lettuce.  Yay- can't wait for tonight's dinner!! Steak Tacos.

New time zone, new city: same breakfast

Same breakfast. Different city. It's a trusty easy, fast breakfast. I can eat on the go. 

The boy has been running with me (yay!) so we need a fast breakfast to get us into work. Well, me. He doesn't fuel his body yet, but to be fair - we're just getting started. 

Pasta Salad and Chicken.

As some know, I like to use Sunday as my prep day. This week, the boy and I, will have pasta salad and chicken.

I made the pasta salad with some changes.   This recipe and photo belongs to this chick.

Photo by CallmePMc.com

Ingredients

• 6 oz tricolor pasta, uncooked (It doesn't HAVE to be tricolor, use what you have!)
• 2 c carrots, cut into strips
• 1 (3.8 oz) can  Fresh sliced black olives
• 1/3 c sliced green onions
• 2 c zucchini, cut into slices  I used cucumber instead.
• 2 c grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 (0.6 oz) envelope Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 2 T chopped fresh oregano Basil

I added:

• 1 C Balsamic Vinegar (but could have used white)
• 1 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
• 1 Avocado, cut into slices

Instructions (I didn't necessarily follow this in its entirety) 

• Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water. Drain.
• Combine pasta, olives, onions, zucchini and tomatoes.
• Prepare dressing mix according to package directions. Stir in oregano. Pour over pasta mixture, stir. Cover and chill 4 to 6 hours before serving.

As for the Chicken: (find original source here)

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 TBS EVOO
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Balsamico Sauce:

• 3 TBS Finely chopped Fresh basil
• 1 TBS balsmic Vinegar
• 1 TBS Finely chopped Shallots
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp Honey
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 4 TBS EVOO

Directions

To prepare the chicken, lightly pound the chicken to an even thick- ness using a meat mallet or the heel of your hand. Toss the chicken with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Set over the heat on a grill rack that has been coated with oil. Grill for 5 to 6 minutes per side or until the chicken is well marked and a thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 165°F.

To prepare the sauce, combine the basil, vinegar, shallots, mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in the oil to combine. Spoon over sliced grilled chicken breasts.

Nutritional Facts per serving

CALORIES

348.8 CAL

FAT

19.5 G

SATURATED FAT

3 G

CHOLESTEROL

98.7 MG

SODIUM

564.4 MG

CARBOHYDRATES

2.8 G

TOTAL SUGARS

2.1 G

DIETARY FIBER

0.2 G

PROTEIN

39.4 G

To mix it up over the week, I'll have a few days with the pasta salad and the rest of the days with a regular leafy green salad.  What have you prepped for this week?

Cajun chicken with Dirty Rice

It's our first day shopping for our weekly groceries at the Victorian Street Markets. 

We picked up most of our produce from here for our lunch and dinners for the week. 

Fresh organic chicken is something that will just melt in your mouth and I'm so keen to give the rest of our purchases a try! 

Here is what we had for dinner today: 

Simple Lousiana style food. With all fresh and mostly organic foods, it was simply amazing! 

Side note: I didn't use Tabasco sauce. Instead I used chilies and a tiny bit of vinegar. Also, the Cajun season had a bit more sodium then I was happy with, so if anyone has any suggestions for a replacement; I'd be happy to hear about. 

The nice thing about this meal is you can make it as spicy or non spicy as you would like.  We like it hot! 

To be quite fair, I've never been a fan of dirty rice; but this seemed so easy: I thought I'd give it another go. Absolutely worth it!  

It's fantastic living in an area where fresh, good wholesome food is important. I had sushi for lunch, while Tim had mcdonalds.... 

I'm quite excited to be cooking for the boy and I!! 

Till tomorrow! 

Getting my body back day 1

It's not always about what your body can do. For the most part - it's what your brain will allow your body to do.  

My body and brain are very weak. Today- I set out to do 8 tabata exercises. I finished four. What's tabata? 

Tabata is a variation of HIIT (high intensity interval training). 

You choose an exercise; set a timer for 20 seconds. You do as many reps in that 20 seconds as you can. Rest 10 seconds. Repeat for a set of 8. 

Today, as I chose a leg day; I had to remind myself in my poor wobbly form of two things: 

1. Keep your abs engaged. This keeps your form and keeps your mind on task. A great way to rebuild the muscle mass from your abs, legs, and brain. 

2. EAT properly. This QLD heat kills me. I don't have to do much to feel light headed and dizzy. It's important when it's hot to have had a proper breakfast and to keep hydrated. Even if that means taking another few seconds to drink some room tempature water. 

My goal is to post daily; so hold me accountable. I'm going to need it. 

Fat. F.A.T. FAAAT.....

You reap what you sow.  This is something I've always known.  It wasn't until I was a much older child, okay, I mean ADULT, that I fully understood this metaphor.  But now I do understand it and at the end of the day, I don't like what I've sewn.  I haven't had much money for the gym, but that isn't really much of an excuse for my laziness.  I haven't blogged in almost a month and on top of that, its been much longer since I've done any physical exercise.  I can feel it as I walk and my thighs clash together like two massive 18 wheelers with drunk drivers at the helm.  Its awful.  I'm sure the gap between my legs has closed and it is all due to my own lack of structure and motivation. 

 

I've started my job this week.  With that will mean structure and with structure comes accountability.   So first step, is finding time to run.  So 5 am it is.....okay, who am I kidding?  Day one and I've pushed back my time to run to 5:30.  So getting my fat ass out of bed is the chore for the day.

 

But on top of that, clean eating.  I mean, I have been wanting to do it (hence the blog) and I haven't really applied it.  So here is my meal plan for the week:

 

Breakfast: (6:30 or within one hour of waking up)

SOOOO good.  Like my mug?  It was a gift!  Thanks FRAN! xo

 

An absolute favorite of mine:

Blueberries

1 scoop of choc protein powder

Oatmeal

Greek Yogurt

 

Mix together in the blender to create such an awesomely healthy breakfast.  AND so yummy and tastey.  Of course the blueberries can be substituted with any fruit and once strawberries are back in season, I will be mixing those in.  Also, I will give mango a try.

 

9;30 am: I was pretty poor on this today and only had a banana and some nuts

 

12:00- mocha with full cream.

 

12:30 I had my premade lunch of chicken salad (No dressing, but you can have EVOO, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, if you choose and some vinegar) My salad was as green as one could get with green peppers, olives and cucumbers.

 

3:30 - cookies and cream protein shake and a bit more of my nuts.  I also pulled out my raw veggies and had some carrots, celery, and green peppers.

When I got home, we didn't eat until about 7:30-8:00, but it was Honey Chicken pictured below.  Receipe isn't as clean as one would like, but it is oh so good.  Leave out the sugar if you'd like to try this.  It is a bit sweet.

 

I did also have two pieces of chocolate and one piece of kit kat right after I got home from work.  I will need to work on getting this chocolate out of my system.  Its amazing to me; 27 years of not eating chocolate and  with a small introduction I am hooked two years later.   I am working to wean myself from chocolate ASAP. 

 

I do enjoy my mocha's though, so won't be giving those up too quickly.



Tim made dinner and it was absolutely amazing!  The recipe doesn't have any veggies, but we added Pok Choy

Baked Honey Sesame Chicken

 

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 3 eggs
• salt and pepper
• ¼ cup canola oil
• Sauce:
• ¾ cup honey
• ¾ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup ketchup
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 t sesame oil
• 1 t minced garlic

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
2. In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture. I have also found that you can put the chicken pieces in a gallon size bag and shake to coat.
3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and minced garlic. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.
5. I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.

We didn't bake it either, just cooked the whole meal in the wok.  Tasted amazing and didn't take as long to finish cooking.  Perfect quick Monday night meal.

So, for the rest of this week.  My meals look the same except for dinner.  We have salmon and rice, chicken and cous cous and steak lined up.  This weekend we're camping at Brooyar, so I will be one of those people who work hard during the week and forgets that the weekend are days too.  But I'll be back to my meal plan next week and I'll get you some great recipes. 

Ps, if you have any awesome recipes to post let me know!  I'd like to try them!

xoxo