May 2011 – Fervent Foodie

3 Ingredients to Breakfast Bliss

May 30, 2011 20 Comments

What do these three ingredients have in common?

Cottage cheese (bleghhhhhh), eggs, and oatmeal?

Despite being super healthy and good for your body, these three ingredients have one MAJOR thing in common.

A big ole plate of PURE breakfast bliss, that’s what.

I hope you are as excited as I am Open-mouthed smile

Thank you to Jessica from Warfield Ninjas for sharing with me one of the simplest yet tastiest belly pleasing recipes I’ve tried in a while!

For two good sized pancakes (similar in size to a toaster waffle), you’ll need to combine the following in a food processor:

1/3 cup uncooked oats (I used quick oats)
1/3 cottage cheese (I used fat free)
2 egg whites

Give all the goods a quick buzz in the food processor until the lumps are gone, and cook them up like you would “normal” pancakes!

get. in. my. bellllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

I was feeling a little OVER THE TOP, so I decided to top mine off with some all-natural peanut butter, Dannon Vanilla Greek yogurt, strawberries, AND Smuckers sugar free syrup.

Feel free to use the toppings of your choice. To each her own pancake, I always say Smile

I made a smaller version of these for my mom over the holiday weekend, and she said they were surprisingly tasty and that she appreciated the “healthy and hearty” texture of the pancakes. I completely agree!

Pure breakfast bliss.

I’m looking forward to playing with this recipe a bit – and hopefully making it waffle-iron ready Open-mouthed smile Fingers crossed

Stats on two pancakes (without any toppings): 203 calories, 21g carbs, 2g fat, 22g protein, 3g fiber.

Restaurants

Bask on Seaboard

May 28, 2011 4 Comments

Last weekend, the BF and I decided to dig into my Living Social / Groupon stash and head to Bask on Seaboard at the NC Music Factory in Charlotte.

Bask’s website touts the restaurant as chic and comfortable – and I’d agree. I also add “swanky” to the description. Partly because it’s perfectly fitting, and party because I love that word Smile

Prior to leaving, I tweeted Bask to let them know I was on my way and soon after got a response:

This is a perfect example of why Twitter is awesome. I know I was late to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, but over the last year I’ve really grown to love it!

After perusing Bask’s menu, we decided to go with the Black Bean and Roasted Garlic Hummus for the appetizer:

The hummus was DELICIOUS.

The pita chips were still hot and were especially yummy dipped in the cool hummus (even though I wasn’t expecting them to be fried).

Of course the BF got a Caesar salad.

If he were to have “signature” dish, I think it’d have to be the Caesar. He gets them everywhere we go. EVERYWHERE.

Mwah haha… Unsuspecting photo shoot subject Shifty

I went with the Spinach Salad with grilled Shrimp for my dinner:

LOVE me some grilled shrimp. The lemon vinaigrette dressing was very good – and I also asked for some of the spicy thai sauce (that comes on their shrimp appetizer) on the side. It was pretty spectacular.

Two thumbs up on the salad, but what REALLY put a smile on my face was the delicious mac and cheese:

Mmmm I’m a sucker for a cheesy noodle.

I stole a (rather large) bite of the BF’s chipotle chicken sandwich too:

He said it was the best chicken sandwich he’s ever had. I’m not gonna lie. It was STELLAR. Pico di gallo, ancho chili, and AVOCADO. Yesssssssssss. This sandwich alone will ensure our return to Bask.

There was a music event going on at the NC Music Factory the night we visited Bask, and since we chose to sit outside we had prime seats for enjoying the live music and people watching.

Last but not least, we decided to grab a dessert.

I REALLY wanted to try the chocolate brioche bread pudding (chocolate and bread both hold VERY special places in my heart), BUT we compromised and got the apple turnovers:

This was tasty (especially the rum ice cream) – but next time, the bread pudding will be making a visit to my belly.

Recipes

Chicken Larb

May 23, 2011 6 Comments

Reasons why you should never judge a recipe by its cover.. err title:

Chicken Larb!

Say whaaaaa? What the crap is “larb”? Google tells me “larb” is a type of meat salad. Good to know, Google. Good to know.

Had I known this fun fact, I might not have hesitated to clip the recipe for “Chicken Larb” out of one of my issues of Cooking Light. But lucky for my belly, I looked past the gag-reflex-prompting title and filed this puppy away in my big black book.

I tweaked the recipe slightly and scaled it down to one delicious serving. First up, toss the following in a food processor:

4 ounces chicken breast
2 tsp red curry paste
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced garlic
sprinkle of black pepper

Give it a quick buzz in the food processor, and you’ll end up with this crazy orange colored ground chicken:

I’m still amazed that I can make my own ground meat at home. It’s the little things, I guess!

Saute the chicken in a pan coated with nonstick spray over medium heat. I occasionally added a tbsp of water to the pan to help moisten things up.

Meanwhile, combine the following:

1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp minced shallot
The juice of 1/4 of a lime

Thing of beauty:

Once the chicken is cooked through, combine the chicken with the cucumber mixture and then spoon onto romaine lettuce leaves, and juice a quarter lime over top:

Looks crazy good, am I right? I had a big serving of roasted broccoli on the side:

This was super tasty and SUPER healthful. I decided mid-meal to grab a tablespoon or so of fat-free plan Greek Yogurt to dollop on top. It really was the icing on the larb 😉

This was my first time using red curry paste, and the paste along with the cilantro really made for a tasty combo.

There’s a recipe on the back of the paste bottle for Red Curry Shrimp. I need to try that STAT!

Roasted broccoli Smile

A delicious dinner enjoyed on my newly assembled patio furniture:

It’s nice to have a little helper. Or a 6’4” helper… either way Smile

Stats on the Chicken Larb + 1.5 cups broccolee broccolye brocco-lee-hee: 221 calories, 19g carbs, 1g fat, 27g protein, 4g fiber

I can’t believe how outrageously low cal yet still tasty that meal was – next time I may beef it up with some beans or avocado.

Soooooo did you catch the broccoli reference?!?! PLEASE take 4 minutes and watch this. You won’t regret it. And as an added bonus you will now know the song I sing to myself every time I chop up broccoli Laughing out loud

What I ate

Waffles in mah belly

May 21, 2011 2 Comments

I woke up bright and early this lovely Saturday morning to head to Day #4 of Body Pump. Apparently, sometime between Thursday and today the Y got new weights, which are LB weights as opposed to kilograms… Needless to say, I was thrown off by this ABSOLUTELY INSANE change, but I managed through the class Smile

When I got home I wanted something a little special for breakfast. Something delicious but balanced…

After some foraging in the kitchen, here’s what I came up with:

That’s

2 Eggo Light Whole Grain Waffles
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s vanilla fat free Greek yogurt
3 sliced up strawberries
1/4 cup of blueberries
2 tbsp Smuckers Sugar Free Syrup

And that, my friends, was a whole heck of a lot of deliciousness.

This may be my new Saturday staple Smile

Mmmmmmmm…

Stats on breakfast: 286 calories, 54g carbs, 3g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber

What’s on the agenda today? I’ll be running some errands, hopefully grabbing a tasty lunch, then spending some quality time with the condo *hopefully* making a dent in the pile of boxes I now call home Smile

Fitness, Ramblings

Beef Cake Mary–part 2

May 20, 2011 10 Comments

Lucky for me the BF doesn’t read this blog. If he did, he’d catch one of the RARE instances of me admitting to be wrong. One of the far and few between moments where my big brains did not perform to their maximum outrageously high potential. Lucky for me, this little admittance will stay between you and me Smile

Last post, I admitted that there might just be a little something to this whole weightlifting thing. Perhaps.

Of course I did some (extensive) research. Hello, have we met?! And apparently it’s not just about WHAT you eat that’s key, but the combination of foods you eat.

Way back last year I revamped my workweek meal plan to include lots of healthy and nutritious meals. Step in the right direction? Check. The combination of foods in these meals, however, never crossed my mind. I had a really good plan based on ZERO exercise. So if work got insane, at least I was eating healthy. And if I did exercise I got to eat more. (more=better, am I right?!)

My anal teensy bit neurotic self likes to keep track of everything I eat (I use myfitnesspal.com). This means I have TONS of data of the foods I’ve consumed over the past year. When I sat down and started analyzing all this information I realized something. Something kinda big actually. I was doing such a great job of eating healthy during the workweek (weekends are another story), but those days that I did exercise I filled those extra calories “earned” with the junk that I’d worked so hard to get out of my diet. If I ran on the treadmill I earned a cookie or two or a big bowl a cereal before bed. None of these are “bad” things, but if you think about it I was forcing my body to work overtime so that I could refuel it with crap. No wonder I have been feeling so weak. Busting your butt exercising results in your body needing FUEL. Not cookies or chocolate or Peanut Butter Puffins, but rather lean proteins and slow digesting carbohydrates.

Lean protein and slow digesting carbohydrates… that doesn’t sound nearly as tasty Sad smile

So my new project at hand is tweaking my meals to focus on the pairing of foods and the quality of “fuel” for my body. All without sacrificing the level of tastiness my mature pallate demands 😉 The other issue to take into consideration is that I get super bored eating the same things day after day. So my lunches and dinner NEED TO be especially varied.

For those who are interested, here’s what I’ve come up with so far. No, I’m not a nutritionist or any sort of dr. This is meant to be a rough guide to help me make smarter choices throughout the day—not a rigid list of requirements.

Granted this is Week #1, so I foresee lots of adjustments to come. Suggestions are WELCOME!

Pre-workout (EARLY am)

1 slice Trader Joe’s 7 grain Sprouted Bread (protein & slow digesting carb)
2 tsp Smucker’s Organic Natural Peanut Butter (protein & healthy fat)

Breakfast #1 (post workout)

1 whole egg (protein & healthy fat)
3 egg whites (protein)
1/2 cup strawberries (fast digesting carb)

Breakfast #2 (mid-morning)

Overnight Oats (1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, cinnamon, 1 tsp brown sugar) (good carbs)
1/3 cup Greek Style nonfat plain yogurt (protein)

Lunch

Flexible, but frequent large salads with protein (chicken, tuna, shrimp, etc) (protein and lots o healthy veg)
2 tbsp cheese (fat/protein)
1/4 beans (good for ya carbs)
Small piece of dark chocolate (mandatory for mental health)

Afternoon Snack

1 apple (carb)
~~Small protein shake (protein)~~ Bleghhhhhh… I tried. I promise I tried. I just can’t stomach protein shakes. I’m still seeking a good protein to pair with the apple…

Dinner

Flexible. Focus on protein, veggies GALORE, and minimal processed carbs.

Late night snack

Cottage cheese Strike that… cottage cheese is absolutely disgusting. It literally made me nauseous the first night. Dry heaving commenced. So I cut it out IMMEDIATELY. For now I’ve replaced it with 1/2 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt (protein)
2 tbsp nuts (healthy fat)

I’m really interested to see how my body reacts to these slight changes in diet over the next couple of weeks. I’m also really interested to see if alternating Body Pump days with cardio days will hold my easily bored self.

We shall see……………

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